Basketball star Kris Humphries faces Twitter backlash after Bruce Jenner comment

Washington Wizards basketball has faced strong criticism for his comments on social media following Bruce Jenner's interview with Dianne Sawyer in which the former Olympian discussed his gender transition.

The NBA player, who was married to Kim Kardashian for just 72 days in 2011, before she filed for divorce from her second husband tweeted: "Man, I'm glad I got out when I did," after the interview in which the former Olympic gold medallist admitted to covertly spending his life as a woman.

In the interview, Jenner said: "Yes, for all intents and purposes, I'm a woman. I have the soul of a female and my brain in much more female than it is male, as of now I have all the male parts."

Humphries faced strong backlash from fellow Twitter users following the comment, who branded him "irrelevant", "hateful" and "disgusting".

Others urged him to delete his account, asked him who he was and reminded him that it was Kim who filed for divorce from the athlete.

Jenner, aged 65, has revealed that he has been supported by his family, including stepdaughter Kim and her rapper husband, Kanye West who helped his wife understand Jenner's decisions.

"Kim told me a story," Jenner said. "She goes, 'You know what really turned me around on thinking about this?' I said, 'What?' She goes, 'Kanye.' I went, 'Oh, okay.'"

Jenner continued: "He says to Kim, 'Look, I can be married to the most beautiful woman in the world, and I am. I can have the most beautiful little daughter in the world, and I have that. But I'm nothing if I can't be me. If I can't be true to myself, they don't mean anything.'"

Ending the interview, Jenner said: "I'm saying goodbye to people's perceptions of me and who I am but I'm not saying goodbye to me.

"Please be open-minded. Have an open mind and an open heart. I'm not this bad person, I'm just doing what I have to do."