Dana White is taking a stand.
The president of UFC appeared on Theo Von‘s This Past Weekend podcast, where he revealed that he’s had sponsors try to tell him what he can and can’t post on his own personal social media – and he didn’t take kindly to it:
“I posted a video for Trump on my personal social media, and one of our big sponsors called and said ‘Take that down.’
You know what I said? ‘Go f*ck yourself.’
You vote for whoever you wanna vote for, and I’ll vote for whoever I wanna vote for. That’s how this works. I don’t even care who you’re voting for. It’s none of my f*cking business.
But f*ck you. Don’t ever call me and tell me who to vote for.”
And Theo revealed that he’s had the same thing happen to him, with former sponsor Peloton telling him to take down an episode featuring presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Dana White wasn’t happy when he found out about their ultimatum:
“What do they sell? F*ckin stationary bikes? Peloton sells stationary bikes and they got a problem with Robert f*cking Kennedy. F*ck you Peloton. Who the f*ck are they? Are you f*cking kidding me? F*cking Peloton calling b*tching about Robert Kennedy.”
White then realized that the UFC had Pelotons in their gyms, and vowed to remove them:
“We’re gettin’ rid of ’em. We’re getting rid of the Pelotons…
Pelotons are out of the gym.
That’s what you do. You stop f*cking using your products. F*ck ’em.”
Apparently Peloton disputed Von’s claim that they asked for the episode to be taken down, but admitted that they requested their ads be taken down from the RFK Jr. episode because of “brand safety guidelines” that prohibit the company from advertising in proximity to “drug and alcohol use, vulgar language, inappropriate things, crude humor, sexual themes, political issues” and racial issues.
I mean, did they listen to Theo’s podcast before signing on?
The company said that they stopped advertising with the podcast in 2022.
But White says there’s only one way to fight back against sponsors that want to make political demands:
“That’s what you do. You stop f*cking using their products. F*ck ’em.”
