Carolla formally apologizes to Pacquiao and Filipino community -- Asian Journal

By Joseph Pimentel, Asian Journal

LOS ANGELES – Adam Carolla, the comedian who made disparaging remarks against pound-4-pound boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and his country the Philippines in a podcast, has formally apologized.

"I wanted to officially apologize to Manny Pacquiao and the Filipino community for the things I said on my podcast," he wrote on his website. "I think Manny’s a great fighter, and was humbled this morning when I saw that Manny had accepted my apology halfway around the world."

"As a Podcaster, I have the freedom to not be censored by a network, which can be a blessing and a curse," he added. "As a comedian, I rant as part of my act but my comments were hurtful, and for that I apologize."

Carolla’s statement comes at a time when more than 3,900 people signed an on-line petition demanding the comedian to apologize for the comments he made against Pacquiao and the Philippines.

In a podcast last week, when asked about his thoughts on a potential Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. bout, Carolla first attacked Pacquiao for not undergoing an Olympic-style drug testing procedure before lashing out on the entire country of the Philippines.

Carolla called the Pound-4-pound champ "an [expletive] idiot" for not undergoing the blood tests (that subsequently led to the mega bout falling apart), bashed the Philippines for allowing Pacquiao "an illiterate", who prays "to chicken bones" to run for congress and that the only good thing the Philippines has is Pacquiao and "sex tours."

The seven-minute rant became big news to the Fil-Am community in the US and made its way to the Philippines where Pacquiao is campaigning for a congressional seat in his district. It even reached as far as Malacañang Palace where Philippine Presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar weighed in on the topic.

Olivar called Carolla "an ignorant fool" and Pacquiao in a TV interview called it a non-issue and accepted Carolla’s apology on the comedian’s official Twitter.

But to some people in the US, Carolla’s generic apology wasn’t enough.

Dr. Kevin Nadal, who spearheaded the on-line petition and was part of the campaign against the Desperate Housewives fiasco, said he planned to send the petition to CBS radio and NBC, where the comedian recently shot a pilot for a sitcom.

Nadal said it’s important for Filipinos to stand up for racial injustice.

"We need to come together as a community and speak up," Nadal told the Asian Journal. "We can’t allow ourselves to be stepped on and be treated as inferiors."

Source: asianjournal.com