As Conor McGregor settled into his seat in the media centre at the SSE Arena in Wembley, there was one question that was always going to be asked.
‘The Notorious’ had just finished the final press conference of his four-city promotional tour when he spoke to reporters upstairs and the elephant in the room was addressed.
Throughout the week, accusations of racism have been made against the Irishman, after he initially told his upcoming opponent, Floyd Mayweather, to “dance for me, boy.”
Despite the backlash which followed the above remark, which was first uttered on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, McGregor doubled down on Wednesday and repeated it.
Comment pieces started flooding out and, on Thursday, McGregor attempted to get ahead of the story in questionable circumstances.
“A lot of the media seem to be saying I’m against black people,” McGregor said in Brooklyn. “That’s absolutely fucking ridiculous! Do they not know I’m half-black?”
'I'm half black from the belly button down,' McGregor tells NYC crowd amid racism controversy https://t.co/Ho4dXn9m64 pic.twitter.com/uvHZ20LDLm
— Ruptly (@Ruptly) July 14, 2017
“Yeah! I’m half-black from the belly button down. And just to show that that’s squashed, here’s a little present for my beautiful, black female fans.”
With that, McGregor began humping the air and, in the wake of that bombastic showing in Brooklyn, Mayweather claimed that his rival had disrespected black women with his behaviour.
And in one of his final statements on a gruelling press tour, McGregor gave his response to the allegations of racism made against him.
“I think it’s f**king ridiculous,” McGregor said in London.
“I mean, what the f**k?
“I don’t understand it. I tried to get in and it didn’t really hit right (in Brooklyn) so I thought I’m just going to leave it stay where it is and leave it out.”
Conor McGregor responds to accusations of racism. #MayMacWorldTour pic.twitter.com/UJHvTBOKYr
— Darragh Murphy (@DarrMurphy) July 14, 2017
“I know who I am as a person and I think most realistic people can look and know that themselves.
“I’m not going to entertain it. He’s trying to sway something and talk about disrespecting women.
“I don’t even have to speak about his past and I didn’t speak on his past.
“I thought, if anything, it was a dirty play on his part. He tried to mention something when we were up face-to-face and I was like ‘If you play that then it’s a bitch move and you know that.'”
