MANILA, Philippines – Philippine television network TV5 has issued a statement saying that its video of Manny Pacquiao's comments on same-sex marriage was "minimally edited in good faith."
The video went viral on social media after TV5’s Bilang Pilipino segment showed Pacquiao, an 8-division boxing champion, two-term congressman, and senatorial candidate, saying that couples in same-sex marriages are "worse than animals."
The comments led Nike to terminate its sponsorship deal with Pacquiao.
Pacquiao defenders on social media have accused TV5 of showing the segment out of context, an allegation TV5 has denied.
"The video that was posted online was not spliced but minimally edited in good faith and with reasonable care. There was no intention to change the context or misrepresent the essence of Mr Pacquiao’s statements," reads the statement.
{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TV5’s OFFICIAL STATEMENT RE CONTROVERSIAL VIDEO OF MANNY PACQUIAO <a href="https://t.co/JvuiL5N2Gu">pic.twitter.com/JvuiL5N2Gu</a></p>— TV5 Corporate PR (@TV5corpPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TV5corpPR/status/701325427596349440">February 21, 2016</a></blockquote>
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TV5 added that it provided the full raw video to Pacquiao's camp, "after which he issued his apology in social media."
TV5 said the entire video had aired during the primetime showing of Aksyon, its nightly newscast, on February 16.
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Full video segment
Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) will be fighting Timothy Bradley Jr for the third time on April 9 in what the Filipino boxing legend says will be the final fight of his 21-year career. –Rappler.com