Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
It’s not the fight you wanted, but it’s the fight you’re gonna get as Conor McGregor and Sinead O’Connor battled on Twitter about the coronavirus over an article about fruits and vegetables.
Sinead O’Connor famously rolled out the red carpet for Conor McGregor with a live performance of ‘The Foggy Dew’ at UFC 189, which is the kind of creative element that feels missing in the UFC production. Unfortunately, McGregor and O’Connor weren’t in the mood for collaborating this week.
It’s not the fight MMA fans expected, but I suppose we’ll take what we can get. An impromptu debate was sparked between Conor McGregor and Sinead O’Connor over what seemed like a harmless article about fruits and vegetables.
It all started with a seemingly ‘innocuous’ tweet.
Men and Women, WE ARE HIRING ??
I need 1,500 labourers ready to work in our amazing food and agriculture industry.
Please send all C.V’s to @LeoVaradkar and @michaelcreed.
Flying in 1,500 people from the outside world, at this point in time, will break the chains of all command. https://t.co/CQXbtkdFNx— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 15, 2020
McGregor was replying to a story about how Ireland’s farm sector is planning on using chartered flights to transport in 1,500 Romanian and Bulgarian workers to save Ireland’s fruit and vegetable harvest.
As with most debates, language was the center point. It’s the last part that O’Connor found contentious.
@TheNotoriousMMA Could you please elucidate me as to what exactly you are referring when you say “the chains of command? Which you say will be broken if immigrant workers come to help farmers. What exactly are the chains of command?
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
@TheNotoriousMMA Are you on something?
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
@TheNotoriousMMA Because you sound like a slave owner more with each passing year. I mean, I love you an all, but like, what the fuck racist shit you been swallowing? Where has the real Conor gone? Because I know your mama didn’t raise you to be any kind of racist.
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
@TheNotoriousMMA I mean for fuck sake like, the chains of all command ? #WhateverYouBeenReadingYouNeedToPutItDown
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
@TheNotoriousMMA Not to mention you’re an immigrant worker your self!
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
McGregor tried to explain himself.
On top of this, there are now 1500 labourers being sourced to fly in from abroad to work in our agriculture industry. At this time?
Too dangerous. Too risky.
Also, I’m sure we have 1500 out of work labourers at the ready. On soil.
It simply makes no sense what is being touted.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 15, 2020
Nothing whatsoever to do with immigrants.
At this time it is crazy to even suggest anything other than essential medical equipment/personnel be flown in. Everything else must be halted.
Even food. We have food here.
We must shut shop Sinead.
For now, not forever.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 15, 2020
And so did O’Connor.
You must be very careful what language you’re using. It’s offensive. Especially in light of your previous racist remarks.
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
And then it ended. O’Connor made her closing remarks, and McGregor made his as well. He has since deleted it, but you can see his original remarks here, which was in Gaelic.
“Nà déan mearbhall ar ghnó na troda le réaltacht, Sinead,” McGregor wrote. “Tá brón orm má chiontaítear é.”
It loosely translates to: “Do not confuse the fighting business with reality, Sinead. I am sorry if convicted.”
Man, I just get pissed about people going on about immigrants. Always full of gaslighting excuses. Saying they aren’t xenophobic when they clearly are. We ought be grateful any human being fleeing for their life thought we were worth coming to.
— Sinead O’Connor (AKA Shuhada Sadaqat) (@MagdaDavitt77) April 15, 2020
It’s easy to see where both were coming from. McGregor seemed provoked by the concept of a policy going against quarantine. O’Connor seemed provoked by the concept of anti-immigration. It’s a tough situation for everyone involved, and immigrants are no different than the rest of us. In the US, three in four non-citizen immigrants work in industries that got hit with layoffs this March. Oddly enough, the article McGregor refers to notes that “many of the Bulgarian and Romanian workers have been employed on the same Irish farms for years and are fully trained and experienced.”
I don’t think anyone was out of bounds. Just a bit quick to pull the trigger. Out of bounds, thy name is Jon Jones.