Award-winning actress Meryl Streep blasted Donald Trump in an acceptance speech that lasted more than five minutes at the Golden Globes Sunday night. UFC president Dana White is a known Trump supporter, but you can’t blame him for taking offense to one of the things Streep mentioned in her monologue.
While driving her point home about the diversity in Hollywood, Streep decided to take a shot at mixed martial arts.
“Hollywood is crawling with foreigners and outsiders,” she said. “If we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
On Monday, White fired back at Streep.
“It’s not gonna be everybody’s thing, and the last thing in the world I expect is an uppity 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts,” he told TMZ. “If you really look at who follows the UFC and mixed martial arts, it’s everybody. I don’t expect an 80-year-old woman to be a fan of MMA.”
When asked if MMA is an art, White said there is no question.
“Of course it’s an art. These fighters, the men and women, are so talented,” he replied. “They train their whole lives to become the best in the world. Saying something stupid like that is like saying (Streep) is not a talented actress, which she is.
“I’m not a big fan of golf. That doesn’t mean people should stop watching it. If you don’t like it, change the channel.”
Of course, White wasn’t alone. Scott Coker, the president of Bellator MMA, wrote a letter to Streep inviting her to an upcoming event so she can witness how “truly artistic” the sport is.
As a martial artist and an MMA promoter, here is my open letter and #Bellator170 invite to the very talented #MerylStreep #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zostN22RAK
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) January 9, 2017
In case you were wondering, Streep is 67. She probably won’t appreciate White adding 13 years onto her age.
We doubt it’s a coincidence that Streep chose football and mixed martial arts to illustrate her point, especially given the history of people like White and this popular football player supporting the president-elect. Still, her insult seemed a bit off-base. Like football players and MMA fighters, Streep is in the entertainment business. Her message would have been the same without bashing the two sports.
