Dave Bautista covered up his tattoo reportedly dedicated to Manny Pacquiao over boxer's homophobic statements
Wrestler-turned-actor Dave Bautista revealed that he had a tattoo removed that was dedicated to a friend who expressed homophobic opinions.
The former Guardians of the Galaxy star gave a breakdown of his many tattoos in an interview with GQ—a few of them were inspired by his Filipino roots.
Because he has numerous ink on his body, he had some of them covered up, including one that may have been inspired by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao on his left forearm. However, he didn't name the former senator by name in the video.
"It used to be a team logo," he said. "I was part of a team of a person I considered a friend and someone I really looked up to. And then, he later came out publicly with some anti-gay statements and turned out to be an extreme homophobe."
"I had a huge issue with it. It's a personal issue with me, my mom's a lesbian. And I could no longer call him a friend. So, I had it covered up with this," Bautista added, showing the updated ink of a woman with a sugar skull face painting.
@gq Dave Bautista on why he got one of his coverup tattoos #GQ #TattooTour #WWE #DaveBautista #MCU #Tattoos #Bautista ♬ original sound - GQ
Images of the old tattoo surfaced on Twitter, which was one of a flaming tattoo matching Pacquiao's own tattoo.
The failed presidential aspirant has formerly expressed that he was against same-sex marriages during his campaign and previously faced heavy backlash for saying gay people were "worse than animals" in a 2016 interview.
Pacquiao has since apologized for this but said his stance will not change.
Meanwhile, Bautista has been a staunch supporter and ally of the LGBTQ+ community, as his mom is a lesbian.
In 2018, Bautista called Pacquiao a "f**king idiot" because of the boxer's old statement. "You can't come back from that, man. There's no coming back from that," he told TMZ.
"I don't think it's funny. Let's put it like this, if anyone called my mother an animal, I'd stick my foot in his ass."
"I was always proud of who my mom was because she was always proud of who she was. In your face, f**k you, if you don't like it, unapologetically loud and proud. And her son [paid] attention. BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE You. #ProudSonOfALesbian," he wrote in June 2022.
