Twist/X17online.com,Mark Davis/WireImageMagic Johnson is a sports legend, an AIDS activist and apparently, a really awesome dad, too.
On Monday night in L.A., Magic's 20-year-old son E.J. Johnson publicly came out as gay when he was snapped holding hands with his boyfriend. E.J.'s famous father, who has known his son was gay for several years, couldn't be any prouder or more supportive.
"I love E.J. so much, that's my main man," Magic told TMZ. "I think he really wanted to be out. But he was torn. ... He just didn't know how. He just said, 'This is my moment. This is my time. I'm happy to share with the world who I am.' And I said, 'Go, E.J., go.'"
"This is a good moment for us as a family, and a greater moment for him. Now he's just the bubbly kid we knew again," he added. "I'm behind him a million percent. This is really wonderful for him."
When E.J. first came out to his mom, Cookie, and dad, he had their immediate support. "I told him, 'Hey, we are here to support you, man,'" Magic recalled. "'We're going to love you no matter who you are, what you do. We just want you to love yourself.'"
"It bothers me that they're discriminating against anybody who's gay," he said. "I've been in the gay movement for a long time because of HIV and AIDS. I see young men who are black who couldn't come out, who couldn't tell their parents, their neighbors. So now, it's my son."