- Floyd Mayweather Jr. wore a matching Gucci top and socks for an Instagram photo.
- The picture is captioned with the words "BORN A LEADER" and could be a response to the diss track the rapper T.I. made about him last week.
- The diss track was called "F--- N----" and included a mug shot of Mayweather's that was altered to show the "blackface" Gucci sweater over half his face.
- Gucci apologized recently after selling a $900 balaclava knit top that people thought looked like blackface.
- The Italian brand no longer sells the sweater.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. dressed head to toe in Gucci for an Instagram photo just days after the rapper T.I. made a diss track about him for ignoring calls to boycott the brand.
T.I. targeted Mayweather with an explicit diss track last week, seemingly in response to a video that showed the retired American boxer and his entourage shopping at a Gucci store.
The 41-year-old was asked why he was still shopping at Gucci when there was a backlash over its $900 balaclava knit top that people thought looked like blackface.
The Italian designer apologized for selling the black jumper, which stretched over the mouth and featured red lips — a traditional feature of blackface.
Mayweather said he's "not no follower," does "what the f--- I wanna do," and would "get on a yacht and live life."
The new T.I. song, called "F--- N----," has lyrics that appear aimed at Mayweather, and the artwork for its album cover shows the controversial Gucci sweater placed over Mayweather's mug shot.
Mayweather has apparently responded by wearing a matching Gucci top and socks for an Instagram photo, which he captioned "BORN A LEADER."
See Mayweather's post right here:
The photograph, which nobody can comment on as Mayweather has disabled that function, followed an Instagram statement that Mayweather said he was making in response to "digital outrage."
"Celebrities and failing artist pick and choose the hottest trending topic as a means of seeking attention and using fake advocacy as their platform when their 'talent' no longer benefit them," he said. "It's common knowledge that these luxury brands aren't being purchased on a large scale by the Black Communities that you portray you're advocating for, yet you use the emotions of our people that are already suffering with countless issues within their own home-front that you conveniently pay no regard or respect to."
Mayweather portrayed those leading calls for a Gucci boycott as celebrities who he said "inject rap lyrics fueled with drugs, murder and sexual promiscuity into the very Black Communities you're pretending to care so much about." He then asked whether their music and record labels should be boycotted instead.
Mayweather has not fought professionally since his 10th-round stoppage win over the UFC fighter Conor McGregor in 2017.
Read more: Floyd Mayweather's fight against Tenshin Nasukawa was 'fake,' according to a former UFC heavyweight
Since then he contested a three-round exhibition against the Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on December 31 in Saitama, Japan, and he recently said he expected to earn $80 million from a further "four or five" exhibitions throughout 2019.
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