Ne-Yo says he'll 'never be OK' with gender-affirming care for kids. He's playing Blossom

Ne-Yo is doubling down on his controversial stance against children receiving gender-affirming care.

The R&B singer drew backlash on Sunday after an interview with Gloria Velez for VladTV, in which he slammed parents who allow their kids to undergo (often life-saving) gender-transition surgery. Later that day, he posted a statement on social media expressing his "deepest apologies" for his "insensitive and offensive" comments.

But on Monday, he walked back that remorseful message with a video on Instagram, captioned, "I will not be bullied into apologizing for having an opinion."

He will play Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls on Sept. 13.

In the video, Ne-Yo said he normally doesn't care "about what y'all think about what I do," but "this is something I feel very strongly on."

Blossom schedule: Who's playing at Blossom tonight? Here's the full schedule

"I need y'all to hear this from the horse's mouth, not the publicist's computer," Ne-Yo said. "First and foremost, I did not apologize for having an opinion on this matter. I am a 43-year-old heterosexual man raising five boys and two girls, OK? That's my reality. If my opinion offended somebody, yeah, sure, I apologize for you being offended because that wasn't my intention. My intention is never to offend anybody."

He went on to say that he is "entitled to how I feel" and that he has "no beef with the LGBTQIA+ community whatsoever."

"However, I will never be OK with allowing a child to make a decision that is detrimental to their life," Ne-Yo said. "I will never be OK with that. I definitely plan to educate myself a little bit more on this matter. However, I doubt there's any book anywhere or any opinion that somebody's going to tell me that's going make me OK with letting a child make a decision like that."

The singer ended the video by encouraging viewers to voice their opinions. "If I get canceled for this, then, you know what, maybe this is a world where they don’t need a Ne-Yo no more," the Grammy winner said. "And I ain't got no problem with that. I'm a hustler, alright? I'll figure it out. I love everybody. Live how you want to live. Love how you want to love, but your opinion is yours."

Monday's retraction was in stark contrast to his earlier remarks on X (formerly known as Twitter), in which he apologized to "anyone that I may have hurt with my comments about parenting and gender identity."

"Gender identity is nuanced and I can honestly admit that I plan to better educate myself on the topic, so I can approach further conversations with more empathy," Ne-Yo wrote. "At the end of the day, I lead with love and support everyone's freedom of expression and pursuit of happiness."

According to data released by Pew Research Center last year, about 5% of young adults identify as transgender or nonbinary. But not everyone who wants gender-affirming care has the means to access it: Only 14% of young people (through age 24) who said they wanted gender-affirming hormone therapy actually received it, according to a study last year from The Trevor Project.

About 80% of those who received gender-affirming hormone therapy had at least one parent support their gender identity.

More: What to know about gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary communities

Contributing: David Oliver

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ne-Yo stands by transphobic comments: 'I will never be OK with that'