Drake Bell, former star of Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh," got some intense backlash for saying he'll still refer to Caitlyn Jenner as "Bruce" instead of her new female name, but that's what Jenner's own mother said she's doing, too.
Jenner, a former Olympic champion, has recently transitioned from a man to a woman.
Buzzfeed reported that Bell tweeted "Sorry….still calling you Bruce" on Twitter just hours after the former Olympic athlete revealed her new female name on Monday.
A significant proportion of Bell's three million followers decried the tweet as transphobic, and the young actor soon deleted it. Several fans took screenshots of the tweet, however, and disseminated the deleted tweet along with their own commentary. One astute observer even accused Bell of being a hypocrite, noting that his birth name is Jared, but he goes by Drake, his middle name.
After deleting the tweet, Bell changed his tune, and posted a positive message: "That's bravery!" That tweet was soon deleted as well, however.
He tried once more, tweeting and deleting again: "I’m not dissing him! I just don’t want to forget his legacy! He is the greatest athlete of all time! Chill out!"
While Bell received criticism for suggesting that Jenner still be referred to as Bruce, Jenner's mother, Esther, received little to no criticism when she told Access Hollywood that "I still have to call him Bruce. His father and I named him that."
Jezebel.com, for instance, said that Esther Jenner's use of male pronouns and insistence on calling her child Bruce wasn't "preferable," but refrained from heavier criticisms.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.