Manny Pacquiao Is Sorry He Compared Gay People to Animals, You Guys

Manny Pacquiao is set to fight Timothy Bradley for a third – and, one hopes, final – time on April 9, but in the meantime, he has some thoughts on marriage equality that he’d like to share with you.

The hugely popular former champ is running for a senate seat in his native Philippines, and during a television appearance on Monday, he was asked about his stance on same-sex marriage. As a conservative Christian candidate, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that Pacquiao is in favor of the “traditional” union between one man and one woman. What is surprising is how far he was willing to go to make that point.

“It’s common sense. Will you see any animals where male is to male and female is to female?” he said. “The animals are better. They know how to distinguish male from female. If we approve [of] male on male, female on female, then man is worse than animals.”

Understandably, that statement pissed a lot of people off. Ladlad, a Filipino LGBT political party, said Pacquiao’s view “betrays a shallow understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity.” Vice Ganda, one of the Philippines’ most popular comedians, started a #PrayForMannyPacquiao movement and quickly found support from a number of other celebrities who think Pacquiao is “an ignorant, bigoted hypocrite.”

Due to the backlash, Pacquiao eventually issued a video apology that was accompanied with the following statement:

 

I’m sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I’ve hurt. I still stand on my belief that I’m against same sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I’m not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God Bless you all and I’m praying for you.

A video posted by Manny Pacquiao (@mannypacquiao) on Feb 16, 2016 at 2:41am PST

“I’m sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals,” he said. “Please forgive me for those I’ve hurt. I still stand on my belief that I’m against same sex marriage because of what the Bible says, but I’m not condemning LGBT. I love you all with the love of the Lord. God Bless you all and I’m praying for you.”

In short, he’s sorry he referred to you as beasts, gay people, but he still thinks your way of life is an abomination. Oh, and he’s praying for you, too. Is it too late for him to run as a Republican?