Floyd Mayweather dressed head-to-toe in Gucci just days after rapper T.I. made a diss track about him for ignoring calls to boycott the brand
- Floyd Mayweather wore a matching Gucci top and socks for an Instagram photograph.
- The picture is captioned with the words "BORN A LEADER" and could be a response to the diss track T.I. made about him last week.
- The diss track was called "F--- N----" and included a mugshot of Mayweather's that had the "blackface" Gucci sweater photoshopped over half his face.
- Gucci was forced to issue a grovelling apology recently as the Italian brand was selling a $900 balaclava knit top that people thought looked like blackface.
- The sweater is no longer being sold.
Floyd Mayweather has dressed head-to-toe in Gucci for an Instagram photograph just days after a rapper made a diss track about him for ignoring calls to boycott the brand.
The rapper T.I. targeted Mayweather with an explicit diss track on February 19, seemingly in response to a video that showed the retired American boxer and his entourage shopping at a Gucci store.
The 41-year-old was asked why he was still shopping at Gucci when there was a backlash over its $900 balaclava knit top that people thought looked like blackface.
The Italian designer apologized for selling the black jumper, which stretched over the mouth and featured red lips - a traditional feature of blackface.
Mayweather said he's "not no follower," does "what the f--- I wanna do," and would "get on a yacht and live life."
T.I.'s song is called "F--- N----," it has lyrics that appear to reference Mayweather, and it even carries an album cover with artwork that includes a "blackface" sweater photoshopped over Mayweather's mugshot.
Mayweather has apparently responded by wearing a matching Gucci top and socks for an Instagram photo, which he captioned: "BORN A LEADER."
See Mayweather's post right here:
The photograph, which nobody can comment on as Mayweather has disabled that function, follows an Instagram statement that responds to "digital outrage."
Mayweather said: "Celebrities and failing artists pick and choose the hottest trending topic as a means of seeking attention and using fake advocacy as their platform when their 'talent' no longer benefit then. It's common knowledge that these luxury brands aren't being purchased on a large scale by the Black Communities… yet you use the emotions of our people that are already suffering with countless issues that you conveniently pay no regard or respect to."
Mayweather said people leading calls for a Gucci boycott are artists who write rap lyrics that are "fueled with drugs, murder, and sexual promiscuity" and inject this "into the very Black Communities" they pretend to care about. He then asked whether their music and record labels should be boycotted instead.
Mayweather has not fought professionally since his 10th round stoppage win over the UFC fighter Conor McGregor in 2017.
Read more: Floyd Mayweather's fight against Tenshin Nasukawa was 'fake,' according to a former UFC heavyweight
Since then he contested a three-round exhibition against the Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on December 31 in Saitama, Japan, and recently said he expects to earn $80 million from a further "four or five" exhibitions throughout 2019.