Guitarist Carlos Santana apologizes for anti-transgender comments

Los Angeles [US], August 25 (ANI): Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

He faced backlash over the anti-transgender comments that he made during his July New Jersey concert.  Several clips from the concert resurfaced online, garnering netizens’ negative reactions, as per US-based portal Deadline.

 “When God made you and me, before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are,” the guitarist said in the clip.

He continued, “Later on when you grow up, and you see things and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good, but you know it ain’t right, because a woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it.”

“Whatever you wanna do in the closet, that’s your business, I’m OK with that,” Santana added. He then mentioned his “brother Dave Chapelle,” who has also made some controversial remarks on transgender issues.

The comments did not go down well with the audience. They called out Carlos.

Amid the row, Carlos took to Facebook and apologized to people for hurting their sentiments.

“I am sorry for my insensitive comments,” he began.

“They don’t reflect that I want to honor and respect all person’s (sic) ideals and beliefs. I realize that what I said hurt people and that was not my intent. I sincerely apologize to the transgender community and everyone I offended,” his statement continued.

Santana claimed that his “personal goal” is to “honor and respect all person’s (sic) ideals and beliefs whether they are LGBTQ or not. This is the planet of free will and we have all been given this gift. I will now pursue this goal to be happy and have fun, and for everyone to believe what they want and follow their hearts without fear.

“It takes courage to grow and glow in the light that you are and to be true, genuine, and authentic. We grow and learn to shine our light with Love and compliments,” he concluded.