WAY OUT OF LINE
McGregor jabs Floyd with racist taunt: ‘Dance for me, boy’
For the second day of the traveling circus that is Mayweather-McGregor, Irish MMA star Conor McGregor barked racist and degrading taunts at Floyd Mayweather in promoting their Aug. 26 bout.
With the two fighters meeting Wednesday in Toronto, McGregor, as he did a day earlier in Los Angeles, shouted “Dance for me, boy,” to the world champion, using racially charged words that conjure up ugly images of African-American subjugation.
McGregor, who has a history of using bigoted language to promote fights, referred to Mayweather as “boy” a day earlier, though most news outlets didn’t pick up the slur.
The 28-year-old Irish fighter was just getting warmed up, later trashing Mayweather’s age and literacy.
“You’re 40 years of age. Dress your f--ing age,” McGregor, dressed in a checkered blue suit said to Mayweather, who was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. “Carrying a schoolbag on stage. What are you doing with a schoolbag on stage? You can’t even read. Forty years old carrying a school bag and the man doesn’t even f---ing read.”
Back in 2015, McGregor said this of Brazilian fighter Jose Aldo: “If this was a different time, I would invade his favela on horseback and kill anyone that was not fit to work.”
He later added: “What I really want to do is turn his favela into a Reebok sweatshop,” before resorting to playing with ugly stereotypes of Latinos by saying, “I think I’m going to have him come and clean up my airplane.”
In Toronto, he also got the nearly allwhite, Irish-flag waving crowd involved, getting them to chant “ole ole ole” and “F--k the Mayweathers.”
Mayweather wasn’t his only target, either, as McGregor berated a Showtime employee.
“While we’re at it, f--k Showtime too,” McGregor yelled at executive Stephen Espinoza. “You little weasel. Look at you, you little f---ing weasel. I can see it in your eyes, you’re a little f---ing b---h.”
Mayweather sat there laughing at McGregor most of the time, but also got some jabs in, too.
He draped himself with the Irish flag and dared McGregor to bet his life earnings on the fight.
“Bring me the contract,” McGregor replied.
Even with the Irish flag hanging off Mayweather’s shoulders, McGregor had to one-up him by grabbing the boxer’s backpack and pulling out a wad of cash. “That’s it?” McGregor asked. The two fighters continue their world tour on Thursday when they arrive in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center for another press conference.
It’ll certainly be a tough act to follow.