Conor McGregor fails miserably with tone-deaf response to his racist taunts
Conor McGregor found himself in a bit of hot water after making several racially insensitive comments during the news tour for his Aug. 26 showdown with Floyd Mayweather.
After telling Mayweather to “dance” and calling him a “boy,” McGregor doubled down in an interview where he referred to the black boxers in Rocky 3 as “dancing monkeys.” The comments drew the ire of many as a backlash to the beloved fighter has started to take form.
During the third stop of the Mayweather-McGregor world tour, McGregor took to the stage at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and addressed the criticism.
“A lot of media seem to be saying I’m against black people,” McGregor said. “That’s absolutely [expletive] ridiculous. Do they not know I’m half-black? I’m half-black from the belly button down. Here’s a present for my beautiful black female fans.”
… and then Conor McGregor gyrated his hips.
This was bad.
Really bad.
It didn’t help that the UFC lightweight champion was seemingly rattled during this tour stop.
Unable to get Mayweather’s attention, McGregor struggled to find the words to keep the momentum that he had built through Los Angeles and Toronto going. In fact, it appeared that many began to turn on the Irish fighter as expletives could be heard coming from the crowd in response to McGregor’s tone-deaf and cringe-inducing “apology.”
He tried to backtrack a bit and explain why he said what he said in a question-and-answer period after the press conference, but he still didn’t come off that well.
“I’m a multicultural individual,” McGregor said. “I don’t really see color in my eyes. I just wanted to say something and have a little fun with it. I wanted to address it and address it in my own little way. It’s stupid and it’s ridiculous.”
Instead of smothering the growing fire, Conor McGregor has seemingly poured a lot of gasoline on it and is going to have a heck of a time putting it out. There’s one more stop left in London and it’s going to be interesting to see if McGregor can rectify this sensitive situation.
