Mario Lopez has apologized for comments he made about raising transgender children.

During an appearance on the Candace Owens podcast last month, Lopez was asked about Hollywood celebrities who are raising transgender children.

“I am trying to understand it myself, and please don’t lump me into that whole,” he said. “I’m kind of blown away, too. Look, I’m never one to tell anyone how to parent their kids, obviously, and I think if you come from a place of love, you really can’t go wrong. But at the same time, my God, if you’re three-years-old and you’re saying you’re feeling a certain way or you think you’re a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be.”

“I Just think it’s dangerous as a parent to make that determination then – 'Okay, well then you’re going to be a boy or a girl,’ whatever the case may be. It’s sort of alarming and my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on.”

Lopez added that parents should wait until a child's “formative years” before supporting such a decision.

Jonathan Van Ness and Karamo Brown of Queer Eye were among those who criticized Lopez's comments.

“If you're not raising a child who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, you should really be quiet,” Van Ness said in a tweet. “You don't need to understand what you do not know.”

Brown called Lopez's comments “disappointing.”

“[I believe Lopez] should be given the opportunity to learn why his comments are harmful to trans youth and their parents. Mario, I'm ready to talk when you are,” he tweeted.

In a statement given to PEOPLE, Lopez called his comments “ignorant.”

“The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were,” he said.