Floyd Mayweather said that Conor McGregor 'crossed the line' when he appeared to refer to black people as monkeys in an interview for Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Speaking to Guillermo Rodriguez, McGregor was asked who would win a fight between him and Sylvester Stallone's character in Rocky III.
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.
The segment aired on Wednesday night.
Speaking to Fight Hub TV after Thursday night's event, Mayweather called McGregor's comments 'totally disrespectful'.
I don't like the fact that he called blacks monkeys. I think that's totally disrespectful. It's all about maturity. It's all about growth and mentally, he still could be young.
He's crossing the line. He's losing a lot of fans by doing that.
'Dancing monkeys' is a phrase which McGregor has used before to describe individuals who earn a living by putting on an act, such as himself at media events. It is possible he was referring to a scene in Rocky III at the main character's training camp.
At last night's media event in New York, McGregor dug himself into a much deeper hole when he made a poor attempt to address the accusations of racism.
A lot of media seem to be saying I’m against black people. That’s absolutely fucking ridiculous. Do they not know I’m half-black? I’m half-black from the belly button down. Here’s a present for my beautiful black female fans [starts to dance].
It is not the first time on this media tour that McGregor has been accused of racially insensitive comments. During the two previous events in LA and Toronto, he told Mayweather to 'dance for me boy'.
