Categories: Celebs

Isiah Thomas’ Son Opens Up About Being Raped Twice: “Being Gay, Being African-American, It’s Definitely Something That I Never Imagined Would Happen To Me.”

<p>The son of NBA icon Isiah Thomas has broken his silence about his past while advocating for Sexual Assault Awareness Month&period; In an <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;abcnews&period;go&period;com&sol;Entertainment&sol;dj-zeke-thomas-reveals-raped-stars-sexual-assault&sol;story&quest;id&equals;46987592">interview with ABC News&&num;8217&semi; Robin Roberts<&sol;a>&comma; Zeke Thomas opened up about how life as a gay Black man and revealed that he was raped twice in his life&comma; the most recent being just last year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Being gay&comma; being African-American&comma; it’s definitely something that I never imagined would happen to me&comma;” Thomas said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At first I didn&&num;8217&semi;t realize what had happened&comma; what had transpired&period; I knew that it was wrong&comma; I knew that I did not want it&period; I did not seek it out&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On being sexually assaulted last year&comma; Thomas felt that his attacker robbed him of his &&num;8220&semi;manhood&&num;8221&semi; but he never pressed charges in either case because he was afraid of being labeled a &&num;8220&semi;victim&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;If I could go back&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s 100 percent I would press charges&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Thomas said&period; &&num;8220&semi;If we could find&&num;8230&semi;the assailant today&comma; I would 100 percent press charges&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As far as his family goes&comma; he says that it was hard breaking the news to them but they have been supportive&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I hadn&&num;8217&semi;t let my family know until much later that this had happened&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It was definitely hard for them to hear&comma; and even more hard for them to hear that it happened again&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He adds&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They let me know they&&num;8217&semi;re here for me and &lbrack;said&rsqb;&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;We&&num;8217&semi;re gonna do everything in our power to help you through this journey&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 28-year-old DJ and producer is also an ambassador for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center&comma; an organization that focuses on &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;preventing and responding to sexual violence through collaboration&comma; sharing and creating resources&comma; and promoting research&comma;” according to its website&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I want to give the voiceless a voice&comma;” Thomas said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The healing really begins with the voice&period; The healing begins with&comma; this happened to me&period; I can get through it&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When it comes to healing&comma; Zeke also says he turns to music&period; He has already worked with industry greats including Jay Z&comma; Lady Gaga&comma; and Diana Ross&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Music has been very therapeutic to me&comma; and writing the songs&comma; and coming out with music to express the way I feel&comma;” Thomas said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Statistics show that 1 in every 10 men have been a victim of sexual assault with that number equating to just under 20 million&period; Unfortunately&comma; most of them will never report it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For more information&comma; please visit <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;rainn&period;org&sol;statistics&sol;victims-sexual-violence">RAINN&period;org<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Let&&num;8217&semi;s chat below&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>TSR STAFF&colon; Debra Oh&excl; &commat;The&lowbar;Ebony&lowbar;Issue on IG<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Source&colon; http&colon;&sol;&sol;abcnews&period;go&period;com&sol;Entertainment&sol;dj-zeke-thomas-reveals-raped-stars-sexual-assault&sol;story&quest;id&equals;46987592<&sol;p>&NewLine; 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