‘Defended him when that stuff was going down’: Dana White says Donald Trump can’t be racist because he was close with Michael Jackson

Dana White, the boss of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), has defended President Donald Trump against racism accusations in a recent podcast interview. White, a long-time friend of Trump’s, argued that Trump cannot be racist because of his close relationship with the late Michael Jackson.

According to Mediaite, White appeared on a podcast with The New Yorker editor David Remnick, where he claimed that Trump’s friendship with Jackson proves he is not a racist. White pointed to a recent documentary about Jackson’s life, which shows Trump defending the pop star. “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,” White said.

Remnick pushed back on White’s defense, asking whether White thought Jackson’s troubled legacy, including allegations of child abuse, made him a good reference point. White avoided the question and instead focused on Trump’s relationship with Jackson. 

Dana White’s defense of Trump overlooks a long and well-documented history of racist remarks

“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.”

White also defended Trump’s decision to post a video depicting former President Barack Obama as an ape. When Remnick asked him if he was troubled by the video, White responded, “If he was that type of person, I never would associate with that type of a person, no matter who he was.”

However, Trump has been accused of making racist comments throughout his career, including his well-known “shithole countries” remark and his attacks on Democratic congresswomen of color. As journalist David Corn pointed out, Trump has a long history of using the “low IQ” label to attack Black people. It is worth noting that Michael Jackson’s legacy has also faced serious scrutiny, with questions raised about some of his most iconic moments.

Since April 10, Trump has posted nine Truth Social posts using the “low IQ” tag, six of which referred to Black people. A study also found that Trump has used the “low IQ” phrase at least 75 times in the past 10 years, and 53 percent of those uses targeted Black people.

Corn also noted, “If you want to get technical – and give Trump the benefit of the doubt – you could argue that since Democrats (and Democratic politicians) are disproportionately Black compared to the overall population, Trump’s political enemies will more likely be Black than an average sampling of Americans. Consequently, more targets of his ‘low IQ’ slur will be Black.”

White has been a vocal public supporter of Trump for years, regularly appearing at his rallies and events. He is one of the most prominent figures in sports to openly back the President. Outside of politics, White has also dealt with serious issues within the UFC itself, including working with the FBI to address UFC betting fraud, and his comments on the podcast have drawn significant criticism on social media.