Pacquiao Says His Heart Is Pure

He's a fighter and no surprise, then, he's fighting a perception of him in the minds of some which is unfamiliar to him.

Manny Pacquiao has enjoyed halo status for many moons but that changed when he compared, dis favorably, gays to animals. He tried to explain, clarifying that it wasn't and isn't gays he has a problem with, it is them getting married he takes issue with.

But you ask around, and many folks aren't buying it. Then again, as his promoter Bob Arum pointed out, there is no shortage of people the world over who agree that gay marriage is abominable and also think homosexuality is a deviant lifestyle choice which dooms practitioners to the hell fire hotel.

On Monday, Pacquiao addressed the gay flap and told the LA Times' Lance Pugmire he was misquoted.

“If you watch and listen to the whole interview, it’s not only one or two minutes,” he told Pugnire. “It’s five to 10 minutes. If you watch the whole interview, you would understand it. The context was lost. I want [people] to watch the whole interview.”

Since mostly the snippet made the rounds, Manny might want to have his people disseminate the entire tape…..

As for his “double down” Instagram post, he attempted to explain that away. “I put two verses in. One from the Old Testament and I included the New Testament [too], explaining that now, ‘We are under grace’ of God, [that] no one can judge another person. Only the Lord will judge us.”

“That’s what I was trying to say,” he told Pugmire.

His argument would be on a firmer foundation if after posting this…

Leviticus 20:13 – “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

…Pacquiao had posted a verse which explicitly laid out why he DOES NOT adhere to that POV. But he didn't, so he feels the need to do after the fact damage control.

Or, actually, he doesn't feel the need to…

“I’m not worried about it,” the man running for a Senate seat while readying himself for a third tussle with Bradley said. “I just want to explain it and explain it properly. I still have a lot of LGBT [fans] who’ve expressed their support. They know what’s in my heart.”

I think it's fair to say many people who had called themselves Pacquiao fans may not be settled on what indeed is in his heart, and head. I think it's also fair to say that I haven't heard really anyone saying they will boycott watching this April 9 fight because of the kerfuffle. If anything, it has provided a point of interest in a rivalry that has to this point been one sided in Manny's favor.