A seemingly innocuous Halloween post by Conor McGregor turned into a bit of a nightmare for his family after fans on social media accused his mother of wearing blackface.
To many on Twitter and Instagram, blackface was part of Margaret McGregor’s costume, but the former UFC two-division champion’s mom denied the accusations through a McGregor spokesperson.
“The McGregor family loves Halloween,” a McGregor rep said in a statement to The Mirror. “Mrs. McGregor had spiders painted on her face since her costume was a ghoul risen from the grave. Any other interpretation was just wrong and truly unfortunate.”
Although none of the pictures shared by McGregor or other family members are clear, a closer look appears to show some kind of pattern on his mom’s right cheek.
This isn’t the first time McGregor has found himself in the middle of a controversy surrounding racism. During the buildup to his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, McGregor came under fire for comments that ranged into racially offensive territory when he implored Mayweather to “dance for me, boy” and also made reference to “dancing monkeys.” McGregor also was publicly accused of being racist by singer Sinead O’Connor in April 2020.
McGregor, 34, remains on the shelf in terms of his UFC career after breaking his leg in his July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier. McGregor currently is not in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency drug-testing pool, according to UFC president Dana White, meaning a return to the octagon would first require a six-month period back in the program.
Back in August, news broke that McGregor was tabbed to star in a reboot of “Road House” alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.
Conor McGregor reps: Blackface interpretation of mom’s costume is ‘wrong and truly unfortunate’