Nike moves along after Pacman
Earlier this week, Manny Pacquiao made some eye-raising comments on a Filipino television station that offended the LGBT community. The legendary boxer, is known for having a public religious background and let his beliefs get the best of him in public saying “Have you seen any animal having male-to-male or female-to-female relations? If you have male-to-male or female-to-female [relationships], then people are worse than animals.”
This immediately became a trending topic around the world, which the anti-gay comments put Nike Inc. in a tough spot to keep their long-time boxing athlete on their active roster. After Pacman apologized, it still wasn’t enough, as his endorsement contract with Nike was terminated.
In Manny’s apology, he said “I’m sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I hurt. God bless!” Whether or not a new company is willing to give him a new contract at this point in his career remains to be seen. Take a look at both videos in full below.
The original offensive interview
Manny Pacquiao & Timothy Bradley Jr. Third Fight Set for April 9th