Ten days after causing controversy by using a homophobic slur, Conor McGregor has apologized.
In a clip captured by cameras and later deleted, the UFC lightweight champion used the slur on multiple occasions backstage at UFC Gdansk in a conversation with his teammate, Artem Lobov, after Lobov’s unanimous decision loss to Andre Fili.
Appearing on the Irish television show “The Late Late Show,” McGregor said he meant no harm with his words.
"I was whispering in his ear and I was speaking on that and I said what I said,” McGregor said. “I meant no disrespect to nobody of the LGBT community. I didn’t mean no disrespect.”
McGregor, who had previously expressed support for marriage equality in Ireland during a 2015 ballot initiative which legalized same-sex unions, also sounded a note of complaint that he was “being thrown under the bus” for his words.
"You’d swear I was screaming at two people of the same sex kissing,” he said. “I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalized, I was campaigning for that. It is another one where things just get blown out and they love to just, any chance they get they love to throw me under the bus.”
McGregor, who also came under fire over the summer for making what many viewed as racially tinged comments in the buildup to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, appears eager to move on from the incident.
"It is what it is,” he said. “I’ll just say sorry for what I said and that’s it and try to move on from it.”
The UFC has not issued an official statement on the issue.
Get the latest gear
