Bruce Jenner interview: ABC confirm exclusive with Diane Sawyer set to air as two-hour special

The former Olympian and step-father of Kim Kardashian-West has been at the centre of media speculation over his changing appearance

Bruce Jenner is preparing for an epic, two-hour interview with renowned TV journalist Diane Sawyer.

ABC confirmed the exclusive, titled ‘Bruce Jenner – The Interview’ will be broadcast on 24 April.

The network said the special would be “far-ranging” and emphasised its exclusivity. However, it would not reveal any more about its subject matter.

The interview was apparently shot back in February, before Jenner was involved in the highway car crash in California.

The former Olympian and step-father of Kim Kardashian-West has been at the centre of media speculation over his changing appearance.

In Touch magazine were accused of transphobia after the publication ran a front page of Jenner’s face Photoshopped wearing make-up, with a strap-line that read, “My Life As A Woman”.

Gossip site TMZ ran a similar broadcast, during which male members of the office laughed as they came to the conclusion that while they can’t be sure whether or not Jenner was transitioning into a woman, he “wasn’t doing a very good job of being a man”.

The Kardashians responded to the cover by posting one of their own, featuring a photograph of the famous sisters surrounding Jenner on a sofa. “Family first”, the headline reads.

“Well we support Bruce no matter what, so we were just at his house hanging out and we wanted to take a picture, that was not like a secret message like, ‘We support Bruce…Of course we support Bruce 100 per cent,” step-daughter Kim Kardashian told E! Online.

“He’s our dad so we support him no matter what, and I think when the time is right, he’ll talk about whatever he wants to talk about. I just think it’s his story to talk about, not really mine.”

“Let’s be clear,” transgender activist Janet Mock told MSNBC. “This is not Jenner’s story. Jenner has not stepped forward as a woman or uttered a word about being transgender.”

Her comments follow a special episode of Russell Brand’s The Trews, in which he defended Jenner against tabloid “bullying”.

“For some sections of the media, transphobia seems to be the most recent and encouraged form of prejudice, now that racism and homophobia are not tolerated,” he said.

“We can’t be homophobic anymore… Can’t be racist anymore… But still can be transphobic though, can we?”

“Don’t this seem like when you see Blade Runner, or some dystopian thing – when you see a bit of telly in a film from the future, and everything’s a bit ‘hello, we’re evil now!’

“It’s such a celebration of the worst aspects of human values. What this does is it sanctions people being judgemental and cruel towards transgender folk.

“This climate of bullying and judgement and cruelty is a violence of its own nature.”

Jenner’s separated wife Kris Jenner (Kim Kardashian West’s mother) has reportedly severed ties with all Bauer publications in the wake of the In Touch cover.

“They won't get any 'real' quotes from the family, and will be banned from Kardashian-Jenner red carpets, events, premieres and fashion events,” a source told New York Daily News.