Under the most magnifying microscope Conor McGregor’s ever faced, one slip of the tongue spiraled out of control.
Conor McGregor had just landed himself in hot water for telling Floyd Mayweather to ‘dance for me, boy’ when he was asked by Jimmy Kimmel Live’s Guillermo Rodriguez if he could beat Rocky Balboa from Rocky III in a boxing bout.
“Rocky III? “I’m trying to remember which one was Rocky III. Was that the one in the celebrity gym? I can’t remember if that’s the one with the dancing monkeys or not.”
Although it has since been confirmed that McGregor did not mean it as a racial slur, the regretful look on his face immediately after uttering it signified that he knew it would be misinterpreted.
Paulie Malignaggi is sure to respond #MayweathervsMcGregor https://t.co/NcO17fD6fA
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 25, 2017
Mayweather tore into the Dubliner over the interview, announcing that his victory on August 26 would be ‘for all the blacks in the world.’
McGregor did himself absolutely no favours when he first addressed the race issue on that abysmal New York leg of the world tour. While Doug E Fresh’s inane ramblings were still ringing in everyone’s ears, McGregor did that brainless ‘half-black from the belly button down’ routine.
Then he gave his ‘beautiful, black female fans’ a ‘present’ of a very suggestive dance.
He's right but… he's wrong https://t.co/hZGc1xCkNm
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 23, 2017
A serious accusation requires a serious response and luckily, McGregor managed to unload the perfect one during a recent interview with Jim Gray for ShowTime. First up, he clarified that he never called Mayweather or any African-American a ‘monkey’.
“He claimed I called him a monkey. I never once in my life called Floyd Mayweather a monkey. I wouldn’t disrespect any African-American or any race by saying something like that. I actually called his two security guards who are white ‘two juicehead monkeys,’ because they came up and started trying to get in my face, but they’re white.”
He then accused Mayweather of deliberately overselling the racial insensitivity of his comments to paint him in a bad light, something that he admitted upset him.
“I don’t like how that played out and he knows that. He knows there’s no racism in this on my side, his team knows that, (Leonard) Ellerbe knows that, (Floyd Mayweather) senior knows that. So for him to bring that up to me, that’s a weasel move.”
The head says he hasn't got a hope, but the heart… https://t.co/NxD0ERQE5P
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 28, 2017
Then McGregor went on the offensive. He’s not buddies with Mayweather, so why would he stop insulting him. This time though, he chose his words way more carefully.
“If I was to label him after any animal, I would label him a weasel or a rat because that’s what a rat does. They try to twist words to suit them. He said in a quote, ‘this is for all the blacks around the world’. How can you make this into that when it isn’t that? This is not what this is.”
“I was upset with that. It’s fucked up, but I know who I am as a person. I never called him a monkey. Not once did I call any African-American a monkey, so all I can do is say ‘I didn’t say those things’ and ‘Fuck you even trying to instigate this into something on such a sensitive subject.’ So, that’s all I can say there.”
Passionate, informative, concise… everything an explanation needs to be. You can check it out in the video embedded below from the 9:04 mark.
