Conor McGregor has apologised for his use of the term 'faggot' as footage was captured of the UFC lightweight champion comforting his close friend and teammate Artem Lobov after his recent loss to Andre Fili.
McGregor faced a lot of criticism for his repeated use of the word and there were calls for him to issue an apology which looked as though it would not be forthcoming, but during his interview for The Late Late Show which will air this coming Friday, he defended himself by explaining the context of the situation.
He then offered an apology to anyone he offended with his words.
I have to put my hands up there. I was watching a fighter, a sparring partner, a training partner, a friend, a brother of mine who has given his health, his body health, his brain health, everything to help me prepare for fights to give my brain health and my body health to entertain the public. That’s the fighter I was going to watch and support. I witnessed him lose a fight, and a potential career-ending fight, in a manner where the opponent was stalling and running away and I was upset.
I was whispering in his ear and I was speaking on that and I said what I said. I meant no disrespect to nobody of the LGBT community. I didn’t mean no disrespect. You’d swear I was screaming at two people of the same sex kissing. I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalised, I was campaigning for that. It is 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’ll just say sorry for what I said and that’s it and try to move on from it.
He certainly wasn't whispering in Lobov's year, that much is for sure.
It is clear that the accusations of homophobia are something that deeply bothers McGregor, but suggesting that those who were upset by his comments were out to throw him under the bus will likely upset them further.
Conor McGregor is not a racist, and he is not a homophobe, but he does have a tendency to say silly and regrettable things that cause offense to some people. When he does something like that, as he did with Denis Siver and Floyd Mayweather in the past, he should issue an apology.
Conor was on The Late Late show to promote his up-coming film CONOR MCGREGOR: NOTORIOUS in cinemas from tomorrow.
