The international sportswear company Nike has finally decided to cut ties and cancel any form of sponsorship deals to Sarangi representative and Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao due to his repugnant comment towards LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender) community.
READ: Manny Pacquiao delivers blow on Same-Sex Marriage 
Through his opinion regarding on the same-sex marriage; comparing LGBT to animals, numbers of the community were enraged and triggered to conduct an online petitition address to Nike to drop Manny Pacquiao entitled #DropPacman campaign started by Aries Dela Cruz.
Aries also sent a message directly to Mr. Tim Hershey, vice President of Global Merchandising of Nike with a strong statement; see the photo below.
Even when the Filipino boxing champion apologized to the public especially to LGBT members, Nike released a final judgment on Manny’s opinion and cut their ties, after several hours of the online petition.
“We find Manny Pacquiao’s comments abhorrent, Nike strongly opposes discrimination of any kind and has a long history of supporting and standing up for the rights of the LGBT community. We no longer have a relationship with Manny Pacquiao.”
Manny Pacquiao has been the Nike’s endorser since 2006 and just because of his opinion he lost partnership with Nike. Some netizens also declared not to vote him this coming 2016 Elections.
In fact last June 5, 2015 Nike released #BETRUE Collection of footwear and apparel that are actually inspired by the LGBT community, featuring rainbow colors to showcase their support for the community and its members.
Here below are the designs for Nike’s #BETRUE Collection:
But according to the article published and written by Kurt Badenhausen in Forbes, this is not the first time Nike drops Manny as an endorser. In 2012, Nike did not renew their partnership with the boxing champion. This was the time when Manny lose in the battle with Juan Marquez back in December 2012.
