Manny Pacquiao doubles down on anti-gay stance after Nike drops him
Manny Pacquiao's homophobic comments cost him his Nike sponsorship, but the boxer/politician says he doesn't mind at all.
In fact, he seems to be doubling down on his stance, saying he's glad his comments caused a stir.
"I'm happier because I'm telling the truth ... It's worse if we will hide the truth. I'm happier that a lot of people were alarmed by the truth," he said from his training camp in Manila, where he is preparing for an April 9 fight against Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas.
"I am not condemning the LGBT. What I am condemning is the act," he also said.
"Whatever decision Nike makes is its decision, and I respect that and its sponsorship of me now only involves my clothes for my fight ... Our contract has already ended aside from sponsoring the boxing."
BREAKING: Nike has terminated its contract with Manny Pacquiao due to recent comments. Nike statement: pic.twitter.com/3xZ7e08EtU
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 17, 2016
Pacquiao has been widely criticized for statements condemning same-sex marriage and relations during his campaign for a senate seat in his home country.
Pacquiao is currently a congressman in the Phillipines and an evangelical Christian. He made the comments to a television station that was asking candidates about their views on same sex-marriage.
"It's just common sense," Pacquiao said in the remarks posted online by the TV5 network. "Have you seen any animal having male-to-male or female-to-female relations?"
Animals, he said, were better because they recognize gender differences, and "if you have male-to-male or female-to-female (relationships), then people are worse than animals."
He's since posted on social media to try to clarify his stance, but it'll unlikely anyone offended will be swayed.
Some information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
