Mario Lopez Apologizes for 'Ignorant & Insensitive' Anti-Trans Remarks

Following an outcry on social media over his anti-trans statements, Access Hollywood host Mario Lopez has apologized for assertions he made on the Candace Owens Show in June when he called it "dangerous" for parents to support their transgender children.

"The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were," Lopez said in a statement his rep sent to The Advocate.

"I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself. Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful," he added.

Owens, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, began the conversation about trans kids on her show by saying it was "weird" that celebrities like Charlize Theron's child are "picking their gender."

"I'm kind of blown away, too," Lopez said, according to Newsweek. "I'm never one to tell anyone how to parent their kids obviously and I think if you come from a place of love, you really can't go wrong. But at the same time, if you're 3-years-old and you're saying you're feeling a certain way or you think you're a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it's dangerous as a parent to make this determination."

"It's sort of alarming. I just think about the repercussions later on," Lopez added.

Lopez went on to conflate gender and sexuality. "When you're a kid you don't know anything about sexuality yet. You're just a kid," he said.

GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement that Lopez "clearly needs a primer on trans issues."

"Medical and psychological experts, and parents of children who are transgender have long discredited the ideas that Mario Lopez shared last month," Ellis said. "The real 'dangerous action' is when someone with a public platform uses bad science to speak against a marginalized and vulnerable group of children."