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The Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather press tour has completed two of four stops and already some of McGregor's comments haven't sat well with people.Though both press conferences have been filled with profane insults and trash-talking, McGregor has been criticized for making racially driven comments toward Mayweather and during the tour in general.
During the first press conference, Mayweather was making a speech when he stopped and showed off some shadow-boxing moves in front of McGregor.
McGregor, who had a microphone of his own, shouted, "Dance for me, boy!" The Washington Post notes that McGregor then said, "Dance for me, sir! Dance for me!" possibly aware of the negative connotation of his words.
However, on the second stop of the trip, in Toronto, McGregor again used the expression while the crowd chanted "Ole!" during his speech. "You sing it for me, you dance for me!" McGregor said. "Dance for me, boy!"
Many people condemned the use of the phrase:
Additionally, during an interview with Guillermo of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," McGregor was asked if he could beat Rocky Balboa in "Rocky III." McGregor paused to recall the movie, saying, "I'm trying to remember which one was 'Rocky III' ... the dancing monkeys in the gym?"
As the Sporting News notes, Rocky trained in primarily a black gym in "Rocky III."
This is not the first time McGregor has found himself coming under fire for racially insensitive comments.
Prior to a fight against Jose Aldo, McGregor said, "I own Rio de Janeiro. I would invade his favela on horseback and would kill anyone who wasn't fit to work, but we're in a new time, so I'll whoop his ass instead."
In 2016, prior to a fight against Nick Diaz, McGregor called him a "cholo gangster from the hood."
Mayweather was asked by TMZ about some of McGregor's comments during the press tour and mostly deferred, saying,"Racism still exists but you know, I try to take something negative and turn it into something positive ... A lot of people say that Conor McGregor is racist but I don't worry about that."
With two more press stops left, the sports world will be monitoring McGregor's word choice.
"Dance for me, boy!" Ohh, ohh. Does he know what he just said?
- Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) July 11, 2017"Dance for me, boy! Dance for me, son!" - McGregor
Welp, what was the over/under on racist one-liners? #maymacworldtour
- Ryan McKinnell (@RyanMcKinnell) July 11, 2017It only took one press conference for Conor McGregor to say something mildly racist to Floyd Mayweather.
- JustBleedMMA (@JustBleedMMA) July 11, 2017