HBO statement: Manny Pacquiao's comments 'insensitive, offensive, and deplorable'

Manny Pacquiao's next -- and advertised as final -- fight is coming up on April 9 against Timothy Bradley Jr, but the fight itself has not created much by way of headlines. However, Pacquiao has been in the news plenty of late, stemming from comments he made about homosexuals, as he runs for a Senate seat in the Philippines.

Pacquiao said that homosexuals are "worse than animals," and though he initially apologized, he also later stood by the comments. It didn't take long for Nike to drop Pacquiao, and the fighter's promoter Bob Arum also distanced himself and his company, Top Rank, from what Pacquiao said.

HBO, the company that will carry the fight on pay-per-view next month, have now released an official statement as well:

"Next month Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley Jr. are scheduled to meet in a Pay-Per-View bout. We have an obligation to both fighters and, therefore, will proceed to produce and distribute that event. However, we felt it important to leave no uncertainty about our position on Mr. Pacquiao's recent comments toward the LGBTQ community. We consider them insensitive, offensive and deplorable. HBO has been a proud home to many LGBTQ stories and couldn't approach this event without clearly voicing our opinion."

So you can put HBO in with just about every other longtime professional associate of Pacquiao's in distancing themselves from the fighter and his comments. If this is indeed the end of Manny Pacquiao's boxing career, it's probably not what he expected.