Conor McGregor On If His Comments Have Been Racist, Floyd Mayweather Fires Back
The Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor promotional tour stopped at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday. After two days of controversial taunts and insults in Los Angeles and Toronto, a crowd of 13,165 waited through a more than two-hour delay to see them in the Empire State.
The jousting for best trash talk continued between Mayweather and McGregor through 30-minutes of profanities, jokes about body parts and several uses of the F-word. At one point Mayweather tossed $1 bills in McGregor's face, while McGregor waved Jay Z's new CD in Mayweather's direction.
McGregor, who is the current UFC lightweight champion and boasts a mixed martial arts record of 21-3, attempted to clarify his comments directed at Mayweather that some have perceived as racist.
"I'm very multi-cultured. I'm a multi-cultured individual. I don't have any ill feelings toward anybody," said McGregor (h/t USA Today). "I don't even see color. I just wanted to say something and have a little fun with it."
The controversy stems from McGregor saying at Mayweather at the two previous press events – "Dance for me, boy."
"I just wanted to address it and play with it in my own little way," McGregor continued. "It's stupid and it's ridiculous and that's basically what I was getting at."
During the press conference, McGregor dissed rapper 50 Cent before giving more comments on race.
"A lot of media seem to be saying I'm against black people. That's absolutely f—ing ridiculous," McGregor stated. "Did they not know I'm half-black? Yeah! I'm half-black from the bellybutton down!"
McGregor then stated "Here's a little present for my beautiful black female fans" before doing crotch chops and hip thrusts.
McGregor, who turned 29 years old on Friday, wore floral pants, sunglasses and a fur coat he bought himself earlier in the day.
Mayweather, who is seen as the best boxer of a generation and boasts an undefeated professional boxing record of 49-0, responded to McGregor's comments that have reignited talk of racial insensitivity.
"Conor McGregor, you can't disrespect black women. You can't disrespect black people, period. We've been through a lot. We've been through a lot," Mayweather told reporters (h/t MMAJunkie).
UFC President Dana White believes the promotional tour may have caused legitimate issues between Mayweather and McGregor.
"I don't think these guys necessarily hated each other before we started this thing," White said (h/t The Associated Press). "But by the time we leave London, they might not necessarily like each other very much."
The Mayweather vs. McGregor promotional tour will make a final stop on Friday in London at 2 PM ET. The two will fight on August 26, 2017 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. We'll have complete coverage here at WrestlingINC.com. You can watch the melee from Thursday embedded in the video above.