Dana White stands by his belief that freedom of speech much be protected at all times, but even he couldn’t help but rip UFC heavyweight Josh Hokit for his comment about former First Lady Michelle Obama at the UFC White House card in June.
Just after his win over Derrick Lewis on the historic card, Hokit decided to use his post-fight interview to insult the former First Lady when he shouted “Michelle Obama is a man … am I right America?” His comment was met with intense criticism, which included an initial reaction from White when he released a statement addressing the ugly moment during an otherwise spectacular event.
White addressed the situation again during an appearance on The Pivot podcast when he admitted that the Obama’s are public figures so people are going to go out of their way to insult the former President and First Lady but he absolutely hated what Hokit said that night.
“Barack and Michelle Obama are public figures and when you’re a public figure, it’s part of the game,” White said. “But what I don’t like, first of all former First Lady of the United States, No. 1. No. 2, a wife, a mother. It’s f*cking gross. Inappropriate. The timing of it and everything. I think that people understand that is not — there are people that you can’t talk to and you can’t change their mind — obviously not the opinion of the UFC. Not my opinion or anybody else that fought on that card.
“It was a really unfortunate thing that happened that night. When you hit this f*cking grand slam homerun and have a perfect event in every way that it could be, you’ve got a f*cking moronic [comment like that]. But other than that, it was a great f*cking night. What are you going to do?”
White says he didn’t even hear Hokit made that comment initially during the show, but he obviously found out rather quickly when the event ended.
“I could go f*cking mental on this show but I won’t,” White said. “It was gross. I didn’t even hear it until after the event. I didn’t know he had said it. Like right when he said it there, I didn’t know he said it.”
That said, White isn’t going to change his stance when it comes to freedom of speech for UFC fighters and the rest of his promotion.
He definitely didn’t agree with Hokit that night but he also understands that the most controversial comments are exactly why freedom of speech exists.
“Unfortunately when you talk about freedom of speech, it’s usually the grossest stuff that has to be protected,” White said. “You can’t talk about freedom of speech and then pick and choose what [is allowed]. I don’t love it all the time but it is what it is.
“I don’t love my stance on freedom of speech all the time but it has to be protected.”
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