ESPYS 2015: Evander Holyfield Says Caitlyn Jenner Is Still Bruce
Caitlyn Jenner accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs on July 15.
While receiving the award, Caitlyn Jenner has called on sports people to help change attitudes towards transgender people.
But boxer Evander Holyfield doesn’t seem to get it.
Caitlyn Jenner, who used to be known as Bruce Jenner, received a standing ovation after winning the “courage” award at a ceremony in LA.
Speaking on stage at the ESPYS, which honors sportspeople, Caitlyn Jenner said: “Trans people deserve something vital, they deserve your respect.”
Afterwards, former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield said: “I just know that’s Bruce Jenner and I’ll leave it at that.”
Photo AP
Others on the red carpet reacted differently though.
Little League baseball pitcher Mo’ne Davis, who is 14, described Caitlyn Jenner as “brave to have the courage to get through a lot of those things”.
Although some think say college basketball player Lauren Hill, who died of brain cancer in April, was more deserving of the honor.
ESPN has also denied rumors Caitlyn Jenner was given the award in exchange for plugs on her new reality show, calling the claims “completely false”.
In her 10-minute acceptance speech, Caitlyn Jenner asked the audience, which included football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey stars, to make transgender equality one of their issues too.
Caitlyn Jenner, 65, said what sport stars say and do is “absorbed and observed by millions of people, especially young people”.
The former Olympian told them about trans teenagers who are bullied, beaten up, murdered or kill themselves, mentioning two people deaths that particularly touched her.
“If you want to call me names, make jokes and doubt my intentions, go ahead because the reality is I can take it,” Caitlyn Jenner said.
“But for thousands of kids out there coming to terms with the reality of who they are they shouldn’t have to take it.”
Caitlyn Jenner described the last few months as “a whirlwind” after confirming she was transgender in April.
She thanked her family for their support, with daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner wiping away tears in the audience.
The Arthur Ashe award is named after the tennis player who died from AIDS in 1993 after a blood transfusion.
Caitlyn Jenner said she had met Arthur Ashe a few times and knew education was important to him.
“Learn as much as you can about another person to understand them as well as you can,” she said.
Caitlyn Jenner’s new show I Am Cait starts this July.