xen·o·pho·bi·a
[zen-uh-foh-bee-uh, zee-nuh-]
–noun
an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.
I spoke to Top Rank chief Bob Arum just moments ago after he read my report on some of our friends in the Philippine media getting banned from interviewing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their press conference yesterday at the Nokia Theater in LA.
Arum was upset, embarrassed and disgusted at the way Philippine media was treated.
"To me it borders on racism and nationalism, this is absolutely not the American way. As an American I have to apologize to all the Filipino people and the Filipino media. This is absolutely outrageous."
Arum further elaborated, "It starts with the promoter because the promoter has caused this type of atmosphere, particularly if you noticed in their first press conference when they emphasized that this is a great fight -- Mayweather vs. Mosley -- because it's two Americans fighting each other. Once that [expletive] starts, it's the prejudice against Filipinos, it's the prejudice against other nationalities, it's xenophobic and it is absolutely intolerable and it's not the way Americans view the world."
Arum also said, "I am personally very, very upset, because I got reports over at the Wild Card Boxing Club from Filipino media that had come back from the Mayweather-Mosley press conference that they were up in arms because they told me that they were forbidden to have any access like all other journalists had to Floyd Mayweather, and that he wouldn't answer any questions or even talk to or give any interviews to any Filipino.
"Now, whoever's responsible for this ought to be ashamed of themselves. This is the worst kind of racism that can be imaginable. And I put this at the feet of the promoter, Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer and Oscar De La Hoya. They're the ones in charge of the press conference, and they're the ones who permitted this outrage to happen. And any person who prevented a journalist from asking a question or doing an interview because of his race or nationality should be fired, and banned from the business of boxing.
"This kind of stuff can not be permitted to go on. It's terrible for the sport, it's terrible for the United States for it to happen. It happened in the United States. And an o rus an apology is due to all of the Filipino people."
On it being a double-standard.
"Manny has graciously responded to all questions when ask of the American Media. I can see a P.R. person telling a client or a fighter telling a fighter, 'Don't answer any questions pertaining to 'X,' whether an American journalist, or a Danish journalist, or an English journalist, or a Filipino journalist. The same standard has to apply to journalists from every country. Somebody ought to teach these people what it means to be an American and what the free press means. It's not just words. The free press means equal access for any journalist."
Arum was also quoted on FanHouse.com about detecting xenophobia a while ago.
"When this whole issue emerged about this extra drug testing, etc., I smelled xenophobia directed at him, Manny Pacquiao, because he's a Filipino. And wasn't that substantiated when Floyd Sr. and Floyd Jr. came up with this proposterous story that Filipino soldiers took hundreds of years ago to prevent them from feeling the affect of bullets or Floyd Jr.'s remark that he knows that the Philippines are the center for producing performance enhancing drugs. That has no basis in anything. Just made up. This kind of crap has got to stop."
"I really believe that somebody has to educate these people, and to teach them what it is to be a responsible promoter toward journalists. For Shaefer and De La Hoya to have permitted this to happen, they have to call a press conference and apologize for the entire Filipino and to the Americans for having treated people from another country this badly."
Source: examiner.com
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