MAGA-friendly comedian Shane Gillis may have been willing to attend Trump’s UFC birthday cage fight at the White House, but he drew the line at being photographed inside his VIP room—unlike America’s top-selling comedian, Nate Bargatze.
Gillis made the reveal during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience on Thursday, where he discussed the experience with Rogan—who acted as the evening’s master of ceremonies—and fellow comedians Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir.
“Let’s stop bringing that up,” Gillis said as Rogan mentioned the UFC fight on the White House lawn.
“They asked me to go in the VIP room, I said, ‘No way,’” Gillis revealed.
The gathering space for the MAGA elite was where Bargatze shared photos with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Cheryl Hines, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee, Rogan, and others. Rogan previously revealed that he’d talked “a bunch” of his friends into going to the fight.
“Shane Gillis was thinking about not going,” he said in June, “I’m like, bro, you got to go. It’s going to be epic. It’s going to be a once-ever thing. Not a once-in-a-lifetime, once in anybody’s lifetime. It’s never happened before. It’s probably never going to happen again.”
Rogan added, responding to backlash some of his peers received, “So many people are trying to make it a partisan thing. They’re mad at people for being there. Like, ‘Oh, you support Trump.’ It’s a f---ing fight at the White House,” Rogan scoffed. “Doesn’t mean you endorse foreign policy. Like, shut the f--- up.”
Gillis was only photographed at the main event, lurking in the crowd.
He also seemed to regret attending the unprecedented White House event altogether. The former SNL hire is known for getting fired before his debut, for using a slur against Asians on his podcast, and later telling jokes about lynching at Netflix’s The Roast of Kevin Hart.
Bargatze, on the other hand, embraced the opportunity to hobnob with the who’s who of MAGA.
“We were there together… Me and Nate Bargatze were in there, chillin’,” Rogan told Gillis as he expressed apprehension about reminding people that he attended Trump’s birthday party.
Added Normand, “Look how that turned out.”
Rogan insisted, “It was fine,” but Bargatze’s reputation was anything but, following the event. Peeved anti-Trump fans flooded the comment sections of his posts, demanding answers about his political affiliations.
A representative for Bargatze told the Daily Beast the appearance was “not political,” but fans were adamant that the Tennessee native knew exactly what he was signaling by bringing his star power to Trump’s event.
Gillis insisted on Thursday that he wasn’t as deep inside as Rogan or Bargatze. “F--- no,” he recalled thinking when asked to join MAGA in the exclusive area. “I knew photos were gonna be taken.”
To further drive home the point, Gillis added that he “stood outside in the rain” in order to avoid getting his photo taken while rubbing shoulders with MAGA.
The comedian also walked back his previous support for Trump, saying he now regrets his 2023 photo-op with Trump at UFC 290 in Las Vegas. “Back then, when I was taking that picture, I was like, this guy’s gonna release the Epstein Files and no more wars. I like that.” Even then, he said, “Still didn’t vote for him.”
Bargatze hasn’t divulged any details about his voting history, but has been silent following criticism for his attendance at Trump’s UFC fight. The comedian also declined to comment on one fighter’s vile slur against Michelle Obama during the festivities.
Gillis slammed the comment, telling TMZ that he “didn’t love it.”
Bargatze was also found to be censoring negative comments about his support for Trump on his Instagram page.
