Donald Trump has hit back at Joe Rogan's criticism of the UFC's upcoming event at the White House. Last month, the wildly successful podcaster and UFC announcer called the event due to be held on the White House's south lawn a 'gimmick'. It came amid a deterioration in the relationship between Trump and Rogan, who welcomed the president onto his extremely influential podcast and gave him a late endorsement during the election campaign.
'Yeah, I'm not thrilled about that,' Rogan told comedian Mark Normand during an episode of his popular podcast in March. 'Yeah, I'll be there but I'm not thrilled about it, it doesn't seem like a wise idea.' 'It's kind of a gimmick, you know, there's that,' Rogan added.
Trump has now responded after being interviewed for a profile of UFC chief Dana White by Time Magazine that was published on Tuesday. Trump said: 'At first I thought, "That's not nice,"…And then I realized, it is a gimmick.' 'Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it's a good gimmick. It's something that will never happen again.' 'Nobody will ever have the privilege of doing something like this in front of the White House. It's going to be very unique. It's going to be amazing. I think it's great for America, frankly.'
There had been some questions about Rogan's presence at the White House fight card, given his increasingly complicated relationship with Trump, but he will be calling fights. Rogan's podcast was a pivotal platform for candidate Trump, who had a three-hour interview on the show and secured the host's endorsement in the days before his 2024 electoral victory. But in recent months, Rogan - a self-professed centrist - has criticized Trump's war with Iran, calling it 'crazy,' while also taking aim at the President's immigration tactics and his Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.
In December, Rogan also told comedian Shane Gillis any type of war 'would be a terrible idea'. The conversation occurred just before the US's invasion of Venezuela. Trump made the comments while speaking to Time Magazine for a profile on Dana White.
Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje will headline UFC 250 on the White House's south lawn in June. Last month, Rogan also threw some not-so-subtle shade at the president while discussing the latter's controversial social media post that appeared to depict himself as Jesus Christ.
Headlined by a lightweight title bout between Georgia's Ilia Topuria and American fan-favorite Justin Gaethje, the six-fight card on June 14 will be seen by only 4,000 lucky invitees. Meanwhile, another 80,000 tickets will be given away for fans to watch from a nearby park on a giant scoreboard-sized screen.
When asked about the politics of bringing his business to the White House, White added: 'You can make anything political if you want to… I love this country like anybody on the left loves this country. I love this country like anybody on the right loves this country.' 'This is basically me spending a s***load of money to celebrate the 250th birthday of America, with America and the rest of the world.'
