Grassroots Campaign Springs Up Demanding Advertisers Drop Boxer Manny Pacquiao For Anti-Gay Comments

Top Brands Put On Notice For Supporting Anti-Gay Sports Star Who Said Same-Sex Relationships Are ‘Worse Than Animals’

Nike. Monster energy drinks. Sony. Hennessy. Foot Locker. Wonderful Pistachios. Nestle’s Butterfinger. 

Those are just some of the internationally recognized brands that have lucrative endorsement deals with one of the world’s top boxers, Manny Pacquiao. Forbes ranks Pacquiao as the world’s #2 highest paid sports figure.

Pacquiao ran into trouble a few years ago when he condemned same-sex marriage in an interview in which a journalist added in a biblical reference to Leviticus that Pacquiao had not made. But Pacquiao is solidly homophobic, and sure enough, made his anti-gay beliefs quite clear in an interview with a Philippine TV station.

“Have you seen any animal having male-to-male or female-to-female relations?” Pacquiao asked local TV5. “If you have male-to-male or female-to-female (relationships), then people are worse than animals.”

He called his anti-gays views “common sense.”

On Instagram, Pacquiao didn’t help himself any.

“I’m sorry for hurting people by comparing homosexuals to animals. Please forgive me for those I’ve hurt,” he said, refusing to change his views.

“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.”

Now, New York City based LGBT activist and graphic designer Scott Wooledge has launched a campaign asking these top brands to drop Pacquiao.

Wooledge is also the founder of Memeographs, which he’s used to activate fellow activists and draw attention to important causes. He posted these tweets today:

Others on Twitter are expressing their outrage over Pacquiao’s anti-gay hate:

 

Image by Scott Wooledge via Twitter