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10th August 2017
10:28am BST
“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." https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/894678304279728128Mayweather 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."
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