Manny Pacquiao came under heavy fire yesterday after journalist Granville Ampong's profile of the Filipino boxer revealed his anti-gay marriage politics. Now Ampong is claiming "biased" reporters twisted the facts to smear the athlete, particularly the detail that Pacquiao cited Leviticus to back his homophobic comments.
According to Ampong, it was in fact he who included the Biblical text.
In Granville Ampong's article, the fighting congressman-preacher voiced his opposition against homosexual union, but what irked the gay community the most was the Bible verse allegedly quoted by Pacquiao.
The verse, which came from Leviticus 20:13, says: "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
Ampong clarified that Pacquiao was not quoted saying the verse, nor did the boxer invoke it during their interview.
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Ampong said he merely used the verse to remind “how God made it clear in the Old Testament time that such practice of same-sex marriage is detestable and strictly forbidden.”
Ampong specificically called out Tom Weir from USA Today and Dennis Romero from LA Weekly for twisting the facts, which, as I see it, prove that the journalist is just as homophobic as Ampong.
"I hereby demand both Weir and Romero to apologize to Pacquiao," the reporter said.
