Dana White is standing up to support Tesla and X chief Elon Musk’s warning that meddling, woke sponsors can “go f*ck” themselves if they try to force changes in business practices to satisfy the sponsors’ radical, left-wing agenda.
At the end of November, Musk appeared onstage at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. During his discussion, the billionaire entrepreneur had a straightforward message for advertisers who think they can dictate how he runs his social media empire.
Musk addressed advertisers that have cut off their relationship with X and told them to “Go fuck yourself… Go. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?” He also accused these advertisers of trying to “blackmail” the company and to drive X into bankruptcy.
.@elonmusk to corporations pulling ads from X:
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 29, 2023
"Don't advertise. If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is." pic.twitter.com/GuhIHWjei9
White had revealed a similar sentiment. Early in November, he appeared on episode 470 of Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast. On the episode, he revealed that a sponsor once contacted him demanding that he remove a pro-Trump video he had posted to social media.
“I posted a video for Trump. Right? On my personal social media, and one of our big sponsors called and said, ‘Take that down.’ Know what I said? ‘Go fuck yourself,” White told Von.
“You vote for whoever you wanna vote for, and I’ll vote for whoever I want to vote for.’ That’s how this works,” White exclaimed.
I don’t even care who you vote for. It’s none of my fucking business. But fuck you. Don’t ever fucking call me and tell me who to vote for!” White added.
NEW: UFC’s Dana White says he told a big sponsor to “go f*** yourself” after they told him to delete a social media post that he shared of Donald Trump.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 14, 2023
Amazing 🔥🔥🔥
“One of our big sponsors called and said, take that down.”
“I said, go f*** yourself. You vote for whoever… pic.twitter.com/Ay9yqmmyXh
Now, at the UFC Austin post-fight press conference, White is reiterating his warning to advertisers and coming to the support of Musk’s comments made last month, according to MMA Fighting.
“There’s more people than just me and Elon now that feel that way,” White explained.”It’s like, just because you sponsor us doesn’t mean you run this business, and you’re definitely not telling me what to do. That’s a fact. That’s never going to happen, ever.”
“I’ve got this new mindset,” White explained. “I look at sponsorships like relationships. Like being in a relationship with somebody.”
White added, “If I’ve got to be in a relationship with somebody for six years, we better be aligned, and we better think and feel the same way, or you do your thing, do whatever you do.”
He also had a warning for advertisers who think they have the power to tell him what to do.
“Don’t ever fucking call me and tell me what you want me to do because you sponsor us,” White said. “That is never going to happen. So if that’s the type of person that you are, don’t even bother trying to sponsor the UFC.”
White’s strong stance, though, has come under question. Some UFC fans have questioned White’s decision to renew his contract with Bud Light. If White is only dealing with sponsors who align with his values, many fans are left scratching their heads after he renewed his association with the beer brand that has suffered a massive, debilitating boycott after becoming infamous for its radical gay agenda and its support for transgenderism.
Indeed, many feel that White’s re-upping with Bud Light is a “slap in the face” to UFC fans.
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