UFC president Dana White has argued that Donald Trump cannot be racist because the former president was friends with Michael Jackson. White made the comments during an interview on The New Yorker Radio Hour with editor David Remnick on May 22.
White, a vocal supporter of Trump who has appeared alongside him at UFC events and political rallies, dismissed accusations of racism against the former president. “These things that he’s a racist and he’s a Nazi and he’s this and that – I mean, Donald Trump, all this stuff’s coming out now,” White said.
He pointed to Trump’s defence of Michael Jackson amid child sexual abuse allegations as evidence. “You see all these videos now popping up of Trump defending Michael Jackson and the type of person that he was and that Michael Jackson was around his children and around his family a lot,” White said.
Remnick pushed back, noting that Jackson was “a deeply, deeply flawed human being” and “was abusive”. White acknowledged Jackson’s flaws but questioned the abuse allegations. “To call the guy a racist is crazy. He’s not a racist,” White added.
When Remnick raised a Truth Social post from Trump depicting Barack Obama as an ape, White said he had not seen it and reiterated: “He’s not a racist. He’s not a fascist. He loves this country.”
