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When the pinnacle of a significant sports activities group is caught on video slapping his spouse a number of instances, his profession ought to be in jeopardy. But aside from a number of days of remarkably delicate criticism, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White seems to be avoiding any actual skilled penalties.
Last week, TMZ launched a video that reveals White in a heated argument together with his spouse, Anne, at a nightclub in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on New Year’s Eve. In the video, White approaches his visibly distraught spouse, who strikes him within the face. White then retaliates by slapping her twice, and the 2 briefly tussle earlier than she storms away.
White subsequently expressed embarrassment whereas additionally downplaying the significance of the incident. “People are going to have opinions on this, and most of their opinions would be right,” White advised the celebrity-news web site. “You don’t put your hands on a woman—ever. My wife and I obviously love each other. We’ve been together for a very long time. We’ve known each other since we were very little, and this was just one of those unfortunate situations.” White’s spouse additionally launched an announcement to TMZ blaming alcohol for the explanation their confrontation turned bodily. “Unfortunately, we were both drinking too much on New Year’s Eve and things got out of control, on both sides,” she mentioned.
There are loads of examples of athletes and different sports activities figures going through some repercussions when credibly accused of home violence: intense public scrutiny, suspension, lack of revenue or, in excessive instances, their employment.
But curiously, for the reason that video’s launch, White has not been topic to an avalanche of media protection or nonstop discussions about whether or not he ought to be fired, fined, or in any other case. His conduct hasn’t been condemned by UFC’s guardian firm, Endeavor, or UFC’s greatest tv companion, ESPN, which reached a five-year, $1.5 billion broadcast-rights deal in 2018 to air mixed-martial-arts occasions after which, in 2019, prolonged the association to make ESPN the game’s unique pay-per-view supplier.
These main stakeholders within the UFC are finest positioned to carry White accountable, however they don’t appear significantly motivated to get entangled. Endeavor isn’t commenting, and neither is ESPN. In reality, after I requested remark, a spokesperson declined to elaborate on community officers’ protection choices and as a substitute emailed me a number of clips showcasing ESPN’s information protection of White throughout the community’s digital, tv, radio, and podcasting platforms.
The difficulty isn’t that ESPN has ignored White’s scenario solely. It’s simply that the protection of the incident has general been fairly smooth. Having labored at ESPN for 12 years, I do know intimately the distinction between cursory protection and a nonstop nationwide dialog fueled by the huge sports-media machine. The most up-to-date instance of the latter is the Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who grew to become a day by day fixture in ESPN’s information protection and commentary after he was suspended for posting a hyperlink on his social media to an anti-Semitic movie. (Full disclosure: I left the community a number of years in the past amid a dispute with its prime administration—a matter that I and others have written about extensively.)
The ESPN author and editor Jeff Wagenheim primarily confirmed my statement that the community is deliberately going straightforward on White. Wagenheim tweeted, “We’ve been told to not write anything incendiary on social media about the Dana White situation, and I understand why and have abided by that. I just ask y’all to understand that some of us at ESPN do not have as soft a take as this on domestic violence.”
Wagenheim backpedaled barely in a follow-up tweet however didn’t solely retreat from his authentic level. “Clarification: There was no edict from ESPN bosses regarding the White situation,” Wagenheim wrote, “but in general we are strongly discouraged from incendiary posts on social media, and with a business partner things are sensitive. My bad on the wording. (The thought that follows still stands.)”
Given ESPN’s large monetary stake in UFC’s success, Wagenheim’s revelation is hardly shocking. Because ESPN is a enterprise companion of just about each main sports activities league within the nation—the NFL, the NBA, faculty sports activities, {and professional} soccer, amongst others—the community’s journalists face a troublesome balancing act when main gamers of these leagues behave inappropriately.
But enterprise ties aren’t the one relationships which have compromised ESPN’s protection of White. On Wednesday, the ESPN hosts Molly Qerim and Stephen A. Smith mentioned White on First Take, one of many community’s hottest and outstanding sports-debate reveals. Qerim and Smith have been particularly gracious to White, whom they each admitted they’re pleasant with.
“I just wish the best for him and his family,” Smith mentioned. “He knows how wrong he was to do this. He knows that we’re on this. He knew ahead of time, because I reached out to him to let him know I would be talking about this this morning. He knows that he crossed a line that he has never crossed before and that he swears he will never cross again. And he is incredibly ashamed of himself. That’s just where we are right now.”
Qerim added, “In terms of it being an isolated incident, I’ve known Dana since I was 22. I have the utmost respect for him. I don’t judge people by their worst moment.”
To be honest, Smith and Qerim each acknowledged their private relationship with White, and each agreed that he ought to be punished. But how might a viewer not ponder whether their dialog about White would have been as nuanced and delicate if it had been about somebody they didn’t know? Neither acknowledged that in 2011, White’s personal mom accused him of treating girls poorly.
In many analogous conditions, athletes—particularly Black athletes—haven’t been supplied the identical grace and assist that White is receiving. (The UFC president is white.) They often face harsher responses. The Baltimore Ravens working again Ray Rice by no means performed within the NFL once more after TMZ launched video of him knocking out his then-fiancée in an elevator in 2014. Like White, Rice insisted that he had by no means hit his fiancée previous to that evening and that alcohol was a significant component, however hardly anybody was keen to offer him the advantage of the doubt or reserve judgment. In reality, on the time, White chimed in on Rice’s scenario. “There’s one thing that you never bounce back from and that’s putting your hands on a woman,” White advised Fox Sports Live in 2014. “Been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”
White hasn’t precisely adhered to a zero-tolerance coverage in his personal group. He had no drawback signing the previous NFL participant Greg Hardy, who had been convicted on a number of counts of home violence. (The sentence was overturned and the costs have been expunged from his document as a result of his ex-girlfriend failed to seem in courtroom throughout his enchantment.) UFC finally let Hardy’s contract expire, however White’s stance on home violence clearly comes with some wiggle room.
Obviously, UFC shouldn’t be almost as well-liked because the NFL and due to this fact doesn’t obtain the identical degree of media consideration. Mixed martial arts additionally stays barely exterior the circle of the most important mainstream sports activities, and a part of the attraction for a lot of followers is that the game is extra freewheeling than different main sports activities entities. But White is the face of UFC and some of the recognizable names in sports activities. He has sought to make his sport a mainstream staple, and with that comes a excessive degree of accountability. I can’t think about the commissioner of some other outstanding sports activities group being in White’s place and never going through official punishment.
The lack of shock and the plain double customary haven’t gone unnoticed amongst Black entertainers. The actor and comic D. L. Hughley posted on his Instagram web page:
If that had been a brotha, it’d be NONSTOP protection, dredging up a playground battle from the third grade, scouring previous tweets, you identify it. #DanaWhite’s ENTIRE LIFE is immersed in brutal, bodily violence, he’s amassed a fortune from it. Where are the salacious headlines?? Where’s the stress?? Ohhhhh, he apologized🙄 #WhitePrivilege (PUN INTENDED) scores a 1st spherical knockout but once more.
In the feedback part, the actor Jamie Foxx remarked: “Fucking preach!!!!”
Some commentators have even gone as far as to attempt to justify White’s response by making the disgraceful argument that the manager’s spouse hit him first. Never thoughts that he’s greater and stronger than she is. The UFC light-heavyweight title contender Jamahal Hill tweeted, “If you don’t want to get hit don’t hit nobody period!!!” On his podcast, the UFC bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley additionally defended White. “I feel bad for Dana,” O’Malley mentioned. “His wife slapped him. That is rude. And it deserves a slapping back. I don’t know. I don’t know. It’s a tricky one. I don’t know, treat people how you want to be treated.”
The common dismissal of violence towards girls is a contributing issue to White being considered so sympathetically. Unfortunately, the worst consequence he faces as of now could be a canceled tv present. White’s TBS actuality sequence, Power Slap: Road to the Title, was imagined to premiere on Wednesday, however the community has rescheduled it to January 18. I’ll be stunned if the community goes by with a present that’s primarily based on aggressive open-hand hitting and has White’s identify connected.
The grand irony of all of that is that White doesn’t really appear keen to simply accept the graciousness that others are so keen to offer him. “You’ve heard me say for years, ‘There’s never ever an excuse for a guy to put his hands on a woman,’” White mentioned, “and now here I am on TMZ talking about it.”
White isn’t providing any excuses, so why is nearly everybody else doing it?