Djimon Hounsou is speaking out about how he reacted when his 10-year-old son was called the n-word by a peer.
The Quiet Place star shares son Kenzo Lee Hounsou with ex Kimora Lee Simmons and he recalled the exchange that went down with his kid following a soccer game.
READ MORE: Racist fair worker in Florida fired after calling Black man the N-word
“I went to pick up my son from a soccer game one time and he says to me some other kid called him the n-word. That’s how early it starts,” Hounsou said on SiriusXM’s The Clay Cane Show. “He’s wondering, ‘Why do you have to call me that word?’ I was wondering, ‘When do they start to get treated like a second class citizen?’”
The Oscar-nominated actor then explained that instead of confronting the foul-mouthed fifth-grader, he offered Kenzo a few words of encouragement to help him brush the disrespect off his shoulders.
“I said, ‘Well, don’t take that personally. Some people just feel insecure and they just feel like they have to call you some type of derogative [word].’”
Hounsou and Simmons are currently embroiled in a custody war over Kenzo, as he is seeking joint custody from the Baby Phat founder, according to Page Six.
TheGrio reported how the Blood Diamonds star accused his ex of purposefully keeping his son from him last Father’s Day, while Lee-Simmons has accused him of being an absentee dad.
READ MORE: Actor Djimon Hounsou complains he hasn’t seen son he shares with Kimora Lee Simmons in a while
Hounsou previously spoke about his son’s color complex, linking it to the importance of diversity and representation in the media. When asked about the impact of Marvel’s Black Panther and Luke Cage, he said:
“It’s about time! It’s absolutely great news to have a hero that Black folks can identify with. Could you imagine my misfortune when my son told me: ‘I want to be light-skinned so I can climb the walls like Spider-Man’ – just because he has seen Spider-Man and Batman and all these superheroes who were all white. The minute he said it, I was like, damn. My whole self was shattered. I was like, wow, what sort of comeback do you have for this? It’s important to recognize yourself. It’s absolutely important. That’s the value in telling stories. There’s a reason why we create fantasy stories, so we can surpass this life condition.”
Kenzo is Housou’s only child.
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