Peter Berg, "Friday Night Lights" and "The Leftovers" director, backpedaled on transphobic comments he made about Caitlyn Jenner, TMZ reported. He posted a crude meme on Instagram after Jenner delivered a powerful speech when she accepted the Arthur Ashe Award Courage at the 2015 ESPYs earlier this week.
"I have the utmost respect for Caitlyn Jenner and I am a strong supporter of equality and the rights of trans people everywhere," he wrote in his Instagram caption. "I also believe that we don't give enough attention to our courageous returning war veterans, many of whom have sacrificed their bodies and mental health for our country and our principals - principals that include the freedom to live the life you want to live without persecution or abuse."
His message accompanied another meme with a statistic, allegedy reported by the VA, that an estimated 4,334 U.S. military veterans have died from suicide in the past year, with 22 vets commiting suicide every day.
Berg's recent post clarified his original post, a side-by-side photo of Jenner (when she was known as Bruce) and U.S. Army veteran Gregory D. Gadson, who served 15 years in the army and lost two of his legs in Operation Iraqi Freedom, as previously reported by HNGN. The meme used crude language and questioned Jenner's courage in comparison to the war vet's.
See Berg's second Instagram post below.
A photo posted by Peter Berg (@pberg44) on Jul 16, 2015 at 2:00pm PDT
