Manny Pacquiao did not directly say that gays must be put to death, according to the conservative Examiner writer who interviewed the welterweight boxer. The writer says now he included the Leviticus quote merely to illustrate what the boxer was saying.
News sites and media outlets across the country, including The New Civil Rights Movement, yesterday reported that boxer Manny Pacquiao said in an interview that gays “must be put to death,” quoting Leviticus 20:13 and other biblical scriptures in an interview with the Examiner’s Granville Ampong.
Ampong, in addition to being a terrible writer, now is blaming other journalists for his poor journalism skills, which frankly is embarrassing and offensive. Ampong today pens, “Biased writers grossly twisted Pacquiao’s view on same-sex marriage,” while not bothering to correct his original report. Ampong starts his new article attacking other journalists, by stating:
USA TODAY writer Tom Weir  wrote Saturday, May 14, 2012, “Manny Pacquiao challenges Obama on same-sex marriage“, a fatal twist of the report I had written centering on an interview: “Pacquiao rejects Obama’s new twist on the Scriptures“.
May 14 was Monday.
Ampong is a terrible writer.
Another excerpt:
As we see, nowhere in my supposition and integration of my interview with Pacquiao did I mention that Pacquiao recited this Leviticus 20:13 nor did I imply that Pacquiao had quoted such. I have simply reminded in my column how God made it clear in the Old Testament time that such practice of same-sex marriage is detestable and strictly forbidden, in as much as God wants to encourage his people practices that lead to health and happiness and fullness of life. As my style of literary writing suggests in almost all of my columns, the critical thoughts I tied up in the structure of thoughts I wanted to convey pertinent to this issue at hand do not translate Pacquiao’s point of view, however conservative I am in my exposition.
[Emphasis his.]
Except, you totally did, and that’s why every media outlet reported it that way. Ampong is a terrible writer.
Bottom line: Pacquiao did not say gays “must be put to death,” Ampong just wrote it that way.
Pacquiao does vehemently believe in the Bible, and, among all this frenzy, has never made clear what his position on homosexuality and the Biblical teachings are, except to say, “God’s words first … obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.”
We’re still waiting for a response from Pacquiao’s marketing agent, who has not responded to our request for comment.
Ampong is a terrible writer.