UFC head Dana White claimed President Donald Trump isn’t racist despite what his critics say for one reason — and it’s totally bonkers.

In a podcast interview published on May 22 with The New Yorker editor David Remnick, White, a Trump loyalist and pal of the president, referenced Trump’s relationship with the late Michael Jackson, arguably one of the most famous Black men ever, to prove the president is nondiscriminatory.

“These things that [say] 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.”

White’s example about Trump appeared to take Remnick aback as he raised his hands in response.

“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 agreed that there was “no doubt” that the legendary musician was flawed, before questioning if he was “abusive.”

“To kids, yes. It’s terrible,” Remnick replied, referring to the several child sexual abuse allegations Jackson faced throughout his career.

Jackson denied the accusations and was acquitted in a criminal trial in 2005. The King of Pop maintained his innocence until he died in 2009.

“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, [Trump] defended him when that stuff was going down. So to call the guy a racist is crazy. He’s not a racist.”

Remnick then asked White if he got “the willies” from Trump posting a video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes earlier this year.

“But that doesn’t give you pause, Dana?” Remnick pressed.

“If he was that type of person, I never would associate with that type of a person, no matter who he was,” White argued.

“But if he does that, how is he not that kind of person?” Remnick countered again, to which White doubled down, adding, “he’s not.”

Earlier in the episode, White called out the “gross” narrative that Democrats have put on Trump, calling it “absolutely, positively not true.”

Remnick pushed back on White’s claims, telling him that the negative rhetoric surrounding Trump didn’t just “come from outer space.”

White responded, “Oh, it does. It comes from politics. That’s where it comes from.”

Remnick then countered, “Doesn’t it come from some of his rhetoric and some of his way of treating people and talking about people?”

To which White said, “No, I think that, listen, did I wish that back in the day, he’d stay off Twitter a little bit more and things like, listen, he’s a tough guy, and he’s not afraid to give his opinion.”

Watch a video of White’s remarks below. Skip to the 17:53 mark to hear his comments about Trump.

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