Dave Bautista has given a tour behind the meaning of his tattoos – including the ones he has since had covered.
The Glass Onion star revealed in the interview with GQ that he previously had a tattoo of Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao’s team logo.
“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.”
Pacquiao upset many fans back in 2016 after describing gay couples as “worse than animals“.
The homophobic comments resulted in the Filipino boxer losing his sponsorship deal with Nike.
“I just could no longer call him a friend,” Bautista told GQ.
“I had a huge issue with it. It’s a personal issue with me, my mom’s a lesbian,” He continued, before pointing to the spot, now concealed by a sugar skull face painting.
“So, I had it covered up with this.”
Dave Bautista: “Be loud, be proud”
The clip of the interview is not the first time Bautista has shown his fierce ally-ship.
In June 2022, the 53-year old actor took to Instagram to share an inspirational message for pride month:
“I was always proud of who my mom was because she was always proud of who she was. In your face, f*ck you if you don’t like it, unapologetically loud and proud,”
“And her son payed attention. BE LOUD, BE PROUD, BE YOU,” He captioned a post of him wearing a shirt with a rainbow on it.
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Guardian of the Gay-laxy
The actor, who plays Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, also made MCU history by visiting the first gay bar in the cinematic universe.
However, Bautista also revealed that the third instalment of the film trilogy will be his last:
“I never wanted to be the next Rock. I just want to be a good f*cking actor. A respected actor.”
Safe to say, with this interview clip going viral, Bautista has no doubt earned the respect of his LGBTQIA+ fans.
For the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) news in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Such a refreshing change from the homophobic statements coming out in right wing media atm.
I will NOT concede out rights. I’m so over LGBTQI rights being pushed to second place when confronted with the demands of the far right and faux Christian homophobes