Dana White is standing firmly behind Donald Trump amid ongoing accusations of racism and fascism. During an appearance on The New Yorker Radio Hour on May 22, the UFC president defended Trump by citing the president’s longtime friendship with late pop icon Michael Jackson.
He says that there is no way that Donald Trump is racist because the president was friends with Michael Jackson and had invited the late pop star around his family and children
“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 during the interview with journalist David Remnick.
White referenced renewed public discussion surrounding Jackson following the release of a new film about the singer, claiming videos have resurfaced showing Trump publicly supporting Jackson during difficult moments in his life.
“You know, the Michael movie just came out, and 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,” he added.
Michael Jackson’s child abuse history
Remnick challenged the argument, pointing to Jackson’s history of child abuse allegations.
“But wait a minute, Dana — Michael Jackson — as talented as he was, as brilliant as he was, was a deeply, deeply flawed human being, to say the least,” Remnick responded. “And was abusive [from] everything we know about him.”
White acknowledged Jackson was flawed but questioned the allegations. “To kids, yes. It’s terrible,” Remnick responded.
“I don’t know if that’s true, but I can tell you the president had a very good relationship with Michael Jackson and had Michael Jackson around his kids all the time,” White said. “And you know, defended him when that stuff was going down. So to call the guy a racist is crazy. He’s not a racist.”
Jackson faced multiple allegations of child sexual abuse during his lifetime, including accusations made in 1993 and a criminal trial in 2005. The singer was acquitted on all counts in the later case.
Dana White On Donald Trump’s post on Barack Obama
During the same interview, Remnick also questioned Dana about a controversial Truth Social post Trump shared earlier this year. The image depicted former President Barack Obama as an ape. Asked whether the post gave him “the willies,” White said he had not seen it but continued to reject claims that Trump is racist or fascist.
“If he was that type of person, I never would associate with that type of a person, no matter who he was. But if he does that, how is he not that kind of person?” White stated.
When pressed further, White replied, “He’s not. I don’t know about the Obama thing, to speak on that.”
“I’ve never seen it. I didn’t know that. But I can tell you this: He’s not a racist. He’s not a fascist. He loves this country. And if you’re an American – race, religion, whatever it is – President Trump is on your team. That I guarantee you,” he further added.
