Conor McGregor’s poor choice of words continues to haunt him, Floyd Mayweather is making sure of that.
It is undeniable that Conor McGregor played a blinder on the media tour promoting his fight with Floyd Mayweather on August 26. McGregor was the more popular guy on every single stop, landing the more zingers and getting the better response from the crowds.
However, his one major misstep occurred during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel Live’s Guillermo Rodriguez. When asked if he could beat Rocky Balboa from Rocky III in a boxing bout or not, he responded:
“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.”
He may have realised at the time that his use of the phrase ‘dancing monkeys’ would have been construed as a racial slur. That may explain why he pulled this regretful expression directly after giving his answer.
McGregor received a lot of backlash over those comments which suddenly thrust race into the storyline of the fight. His attempt to calm down the criticism by jokingly stating he was “half-black from the belly button down” backfired as it only gave Mayweather more of a reason to speak out.
In a recent interview with ESPN, Mayweather dredged up the ‘dancing monkeys’ comment again, accusing McGregor of using it as a racial slur.
“I just didn’t like when he called us monkeys. Yeah, he called us monkeys. I didn’t like that. It didn’t push a button to make me jump out of my character and make me go crazy, but I didn’t like it.”
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Mayweather said the comment made him think about what those who fought for civil rights had to deal with in their fight. The promoter in him made sure to drop the date of the fight (twice) in his piece.
“I just thought about all of our different leaders – Martin Luther King, Malcolm X – that went on the frontline for me and all of my loved ones.
“This stuff still goes on. But I’m strong, smart, patient and come August 26, I’m the same person – strong, smart, patient – and the same way he called us monkeys, I’m going to see if he says that August 26.
“This is for the American people. This is for all the blacks around the world.”
