Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather apologises for calling Conor McGregor a ‘faggot’
Boxer Floyd Mayweather has finally apologised for using a homophobic slur in a press conference.
Last month, professional boxer Mayweather used a homophobic slur while at a press conference to promote an upcoming fight with MMA star Conor McGregor.
At the event, Mayweather accused his rival of being a racist, before shouting: “You punk. You faggot. You ho!”
(Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
The comments were widely reported in the media at the time.
Three weeks later, Mayweather has finally issued an apology for the remarks.
He said: “There are certain boundaries you just don’t cross,” Mayweather told the media in attendance during his open workout “In the press tour when I said something toward lesbians or gays when I said something toward him.
“I apologized, but him calling us monkeys, you have to realize, we went through years and years of up and down. Black Americans went through a lot.
“But I’m a strong individual. We live and we learn and hopefully after August 26, he won’t be speaking that same language.”
McGregor previously refused to condemn the homophobic slur.
He said: “I actually didn’t even hear that… [but] people are so touchy on words. It’s absolutely crazy.
“If he said that, I couldn’t give a (expletive). I think what he was trying to do was to switch it up and get the people back in his favour.
“I think it was a bit of a (expletive) move to try and instigate that on me.”
Mayweather was previously caught on tape in 2010 referring to boxer Manny Pacquiao as a “faggot” several times.
He later apologised.
Orange is the New Black star Ruby Rose previously sparked an online backlash last year after posing for a photo with Mayweather.
The boxer was jailed for domestic abuse in 2012.
