UFC CEO Dana White has sparked controversy after describing the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner as 'f*****g awesome' in comments that quickly circulated on social media. White, 56, was among the thousands of attendees at the Washington Hilton hotel when authorities say 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen attempted to storm the event armed with a shotgun, handgun, and multiple knives.
White's reaction to the incident
While many, including Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, reacted with horror to the unfolding events, White offered a starkly different perspective. 'It started to get noisy. Tables started getting flipped over, guys running with guns and they were screaming, "Get down!" I didn't get down. It was f*****g awesome and I literally took every minute of it in,' he told USA Today.
White described the experience as 'a pretty crazy, unique experience' and noted that he was seated near the president's table. 'Nobody got tackled but guys came in looking for shooters, I thought the shooter was over by us or something,' he added.
White's ties to President Trump
White is a prominent ally of President Donald Trump and is scheduled to promote an MMA event on the White House lawn on June 14, the commander in chief's birthday, as part of the United States' 250th birthday celebrations. At the dinner, White was a guest of Paramount Skydance, the broadcaster behind UFC, and sat at the head table alongside President Trump, the first lady, and Karoline Leavitt.
President Trump praised the Secret Service for their rapid response in subduing the suspect and confirmed that the event would be rescheduled. 'The response time was really incredible, and we're going to reschedule. We're going to do it again, we're not going to let anybody take over our society; we're not going to cancel things because we can't do that,' Trump stated.
White's past advice to Trump
In a 2025 interview with Piers Morgan, White revealed that after the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, he urged the president to drop out of the race. White recalled being on a flight to Italy when the incident occurred and immediately called Trump upon landing. 'Why are you doing this? Stop. Stop. I told him to stop so many times,' White said.
White added that Trump's religious faith played a role in his decision to continue. 'He believes that God must've had a plan for me. God wanted me to survive that bullet,' Trump told Morgan. White concurred, stating, 'He believes that to his core. That God has spared his life to be the president and do the things that he's going to do over the next four years.'
