UFC president Dana White says that there is no way that Donald Trump is racist – because the president was friends with Michael Jackson.
White, 56, who has been one of Trump’s most vocal supporters and has frequently appeared alongside him at UFC events and political rallies, defended his friend during an interview on The New Yorker Radio Hour with editor David Remnick on May 22.
“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.
“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.”
Remnick appeared stunned by White’s example and pushed back.
“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 said. “And was abusive [from] everything we know about him.”
White acknowledged Jackson was flawed before asking: “He was abusive?”
“To kids, yes. It’s terrible,” Remnick responded.
Jackson faced multiple allegations of child sexual abuse during his lifetime, including accusations in 1993 and a criminal trial in 2005. The pop star was acquitted on all counts in the later case.
“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.”
During the interview, Remnick also brought up a controversial Truth Social post Trump shared earlier this year depicting former President Barack Obama as an ape, asking White if the post gave him “the willies.”
“If he was that type of person, I never would associate with that type of a person, no matter who he was,” White said.
“But if he does that, how is he not that kind of person?” Remnick asked.
“He’s not,” White replied.
“I don’t know about the Obama thing, to speak on that,” White added. “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.”
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