Midnight Mania! Conor McGregor apologizes for using homophobic slur

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Conor McGregor got into hot water a couple weekends ago at UFC: Gdansk. Not only did the referee tell him to go sit down during his teammate Artem Lobov’s fight, but afterwards he was recording referring to Andre Fili as a “faggot” several times. The UFC quickly took the video down after posting it on their official channel. It created something of a furor; McGregor was attempting to console his teammate after a loss, but when his use of a homophobic slur was reported on, those who reported it experienced a backlash as McGregor fans rushed in to support their fighter. Andre Fili didn’t appreciate the insult, calling McGregor “fake” for being nice to his face then calling him that behind closed doors.

McGregor took the opportunity in a recent interview to apologize. He didn’t offer much in the way of an explanation besides the fact that it was an emotional moment, and recounted the bond he has with his training partner and friend Artem Lobov. He said he wasn’t using the word in reference to gay people, and reminded us that when gay marriage was up for legalization in Ireland he used his platform to publicly support it, along with all of Straight Blast Gym in Ireland.

I witnessed him lose a fight in a manner that- and a potential career defining or career ending fight, in a manner where the opponent was stalling or running away, and I was upset. And I was whispering in his ear, and I was speaking on that, and I said what I said, and I meant no disrespect to nobody of any- the LGBT community… its rare I was talking about or screaming about two people of the same sex kissing. I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalized, I was campaigning for that. Again, its another one where things just get blown out, and they love to just- any chance they get, they love to throw me under the bus. It is what it is, I have to just say sorry for what I said, and that’s it, and try and move on from it.

We tend to hold our athletes, particularly those with the reach of McGregor, to higher standards these days. This was hardly McGregor’s first time saying something offensive; at times during the McGregor-Mayweather buildup, he got pretty racist (although he never referred to African Americans as “monkeys”, contrary to reports). He seemed to understand that those comments weren’t okay, saying they “didn’t really hit right”, but also understood that once said in public, one can’t really take one’s words back. While it is not my place, as someone not part of the LGBTQ community, to pass judgement on McGregor one way or the other in this instance, apologizing seems like the right step for him to take. Hopefully all of us (including McGregor) can move on with lessons learned.

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Random Land

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