Tony McGregor slams President Zelensky for criticising his son Conor

During a recent meeting with senior Irish politicians in Kyiv, Zelensky said that he was once a fan of McGregor but said he changed his opinion when the Dubliner posed with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

President Zelensky spoke about his recent meeting with U2 frontman Bono, who visited the war-torn region and performed in a subway station in Kyiv before their meeting.

But while he spoke glowingly about Bono, Mr Zelensky was less than impressed with McGregor.

“He felt he wasn't being supportive of Ukraine,” Seanad Cathaoirleach Mark Daly told the Herald.

“This man is fighting a war but he knows what's going on all around the world, including in Ireland.”

And McGregor’s father Tony had some stern words for the Ukrainian leader, encouraging him to focus on the war instead of bad mouthing his son.

He took to his Instagram Stories shared a photo of Zelensky, Putin, French president Emmanuel Macron, and German chancellor Angela Merkel during the Normandy Four meeting in December 2019.

“Zelensky, fight your war,” Tony wrote.

“And keep my son’s name out yo f***ing mouth,” he added, referencing the infamous smackdown between Will Smith and Chris Rock at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Tony also shared a series of photos showing Putin with famous figures such as Bono and US President Joe Biden with no captions.

McGregor posted a photograph of himself and Putin at the 2018 World Cup final in Russia on Instagram four years ago.

He captioned the picture: "This man is one of the greatest leaders of our time and I was honoured to attend such a landmark event alongside him."

A video of the encounter shows the Crumlin fighter (33) warmly greeting the Russian leader, talking through a translator.

They then pose for a photograph, with McGregor putting his arm around Putin before one of the Russian leader's security team asks him to remove it.

After meeting Putin, McGregor revealed he gifted the Russian president the first bottle of his Proper 12 whiskey but was unsure if Putin actually received it as his security took it off him to be checked for poison.

"President Putin's security detail is second to none, as I'm sure you know, you don't mess around with Vladimir," he added.

McGregor's spokesperson said the fighter "often takes photographs with event hosts" and added that "this photograph was years ago".