As celebrities continue to boycott Gucci following the brand’s blackface controversy, Floyd Mayweather has been outspoken in his support of the Italian company.
On Monday, the retired boxer reaffirmed his support with an Instagram photo of himself dressed completely in Gucci clothing.
Mayweather captioned the photo, which has been liked more than 400,000 times: “Born a leader.”
The photo, which has had its comments disabled, is the 41-year-old’s latest public backing of Gucci – as he previously told TMZ that he would continue to shop at Gucci because he was “not no follower.”
“I’m not a follower...You know when everybody else they say: ‘Everybody gonna boycott?’ I say guess what, this boy gonna get on a yacht and live life,” Mayweather said as he shopped at the designer store.
The boxer’s stance comes in contrast to celebrities such as 50 Cent, Lil Pump and Russell Simmons, who have all announced their intentions to boycott the brand over its $890 (£688) “balaclava jumper” that featured a cut-out mouth and red lips.
In response to Mayweather’s refusal to boycott the brand, rapper TI released a song on February 14 criticising the former boxer.
The song, called F*** N****, featured cover art of Mayweather edited to look as if he was wearing the Gucci jumper in question,.
50 Cent, who burned his own Gucci clothing, also called out Mayweather on Instagram, captioning a photo of the former boxer: “Get the f**k outta here champ.”
Following the initial backlash, Gucci removed the jumper and issued a public apology.
“We are fully committed to increasing diversity throughout our organisation and turning this incident into a powerful learning moment for the Gucci team and beyond,” the brand said in a statement shared to social media.
