Former world champion Amir Khan has come under fire in the last few days, after making certain statements that were deemed controversial in the wake of his appearance at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles on July 18.
At the awards, Khan was seated next to Caitlyn Jenner.
Jenner - an Olympic gold medal winner who previously identifying publicly as male, Bruce Jenner - revealed her identity as a trans woman in April 2015, publicly announcing her name change from Bruce to Caitlyn in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story.
Khan started a firestorm - when he posted a photo with Jenner and referred to her as "Bruce."
He would apologize afterwards, but accidentally added fuel to the fire by using the word "him" several times when referring to Jenner.
Khan made it clear that he's a supporter of the transgender community.
However, some found it disrespectful that Khan once again used words like "he" and "him" when speaking about Jenner.
“I don’t want people thinking I’m transphobic, [that I] I don’t like transgenders, I’ve got nothing against them. I don’t want people to think I’m that bad person and a person to put transgender people down," Khan told The Sun.
“We were sat together all night and we were talking about being in the Olympics. He didn’t…Caitlyn didn’t really mind when I called him Bruce. I just don’t want people taking it out of context.”
The popular boxer believes the media has made him a target and twist his words to suit their needs.
“A lot of stuff happens and it’s not fair. So I just turn a blind eye to it. I never let it get to me. I’m a well-known fighter and I’m a successful boxer, so I just want to be happy doing that," Khan said.
“All of the media around it, I’m not a celebrity, I’m a normal guy, and I just want to be known as that. I’m not one of those guys who likes to go back suing this guy and suing that guy. They all just talk. 90 percent of it is wrong, but I never let it get to me. The people out there know what the truth is.”
Khan is scheduled to return to the ring on September 8th in Birmingham, against Samuel Vargas.