Patti LaBelle has spoken out in defense of her nephew and adopted son Byl Holte who made headlines weeks back when a white Republican congressional candidate, Dean Browning, tweeted about being a “Black gay guy” who “can personally say Obama did nothing for me.”
The internet thought then began to troll Browning, accusing him of forgetting to use his burner account to post the tweet. Browning then explained that he’d accidentally pasted a message from a supporter — Labelle’s adopted son, Byl Holte. Holte then posted a video to prove that it was, in fact, him who sent Browning the email.
During a profile with Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine, she opened up about the incident.
“Guess what? I didn’t choose my family. I choose my friends,” she told O. “I love Billy. He has a Republican mind. And, guess what? I don’t. But do I hate him for having the mind that he has? No, I can’t.”
She went on to add that she had spoken to Holte before sitting down for the interview:
“He was saying, ‘I love you and I’m so sorry,'” she said. “You give people chances, when sometimes, they don’t even know what they’re doing or why. So I can’t beat him up for the rest of his life. I decided to take the high road with him by letting him know that you make mistakes — but when my name comes in that mistake, that’s a no-no. Certain things happen in life, and I just keep going on, because I love him.”
