US comedian Lil' Duval appeared on syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club this week and commented that he would kill a woman if he found out she was transgender.
Hosts Charlamagne Tha God, Angela Yee and DJ Envy began speaking about President Trump’s proposed transgender military ban when the comedian began making transphobic comments.
“If you’re transgendered, if one did that to me,” he says.
One hosts interjects, “If you had sex with one and you didn’t know?”
Lil' Duval continues: “And they didn’t tell me, I’d be so mad I’m probably gonna kill them.”
Another host is heard saying: "No, that's a hate crime".
Yee attempts to steer the conversation away from transphobia saying: “Well let’s not even ask that because until it happens to him he doesn’t know what he’s going to do,” she says.
Transgender woman and activist Janet Mock had been a guest on the program just days earlier and a copy of her book—Surpassing Certainty—is pictured in the studio.
Another host in the room holds the book up to Lil' Duval and asks if he would have sex with the author.
Lil' Duval tells him to put the book down, before making offensive comments about Mock.
“She’s beautiful!” Yee protests.
Since a video of the show was shared online, Lil' Duval has been criticised for his harmful comments about the transgender community.
Trans actor and activist Laverne Cox wrote a series of tweets about the serious consequences of turning transgender murder into ‘comedy’.
“After taking several deep breaths I just got teary thinking about all my sisters experiencing violence, beaten, raped, murdered and some,” she wrote.
“I think what's also so upsetting for me is was on that show last week with so much love brilliance and trans 101 education and…a week later this happens. .”
“Some folks think it's ok to joke about wanting to kill us. We have free speech but that speech has consequences and trans folks are experiencing the negative consequences with our lives. It hurts my spirit cause this isn't funny. Our lives matter”.
According to the, 22 transgender people were murdered in the United States in 2016.
This year is on track for an even higher death toll with 15 transgender people—the majority being transgender women—killed in violent circumstances so far.
Last week former US Navy sailor Dwanya Hickerson was to 40 years in prison for the murder of transgender nurse Dee Whigham.
Hickerson murdered Whigham after finding out that she was a transgender woman.
In response to the radio segment and negative comments directed to her, Mock had this to say on Twitter:
