CNN Newsnight’s token conservative offered up a bizarre justification for the White House’s failure to condemn a UFC fighter’s controversial comments about Michelle Obama.
Josh Hokit, who was competing at President Donald Trump’s “Freedom 250” UFC event at the White House on Sunday, went viral after hurling an insult at the former first lady.
“Shout out to Trump for having the balls to put some s--- like this on,” Hokit told Joe Rogan in a post-game interview before adding, “There’s only one person more incredible than the Incredible Hulk, and that’s my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Looking directly into the camera, Hokit ended the interview by saying, “And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right, America?”
CNN reported that Trump, who was seated in the front row, “appeared to show a half-smile” immediately after Hokit’s comment.
Elsewhere, the backlash to the remark was swift, with UFC scrubbing it from its online content, including a YouTube video of Hokit’s interview with Rogan, from which the remark was edited out.
UFC boss and Trump ally Dana White even condemned the remark, telling Time magazine, “I understand that the Obamas are public figures, but I’m completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s families.”
“Everyone knows my position on free speech, but I hate that kind of nonsense.”
The White House, for its part, declined to condemn the remark, sparking a heated discussion on Monday evening’s edition of Newsnight.
“These people in the White House, [Communications Director] Steven Cheung, the president, nobody has the guts to say, ‘That’s inappropriate, it shouldn’t have been said, it’s wrong.’ Why?” host Abby Phillip said.
Jennings, a frequent defender of the president, said that he personally would condemn the remarks if asked, telling Phillip, “I would do that, I would say we don’t endorse these comments.”
“But why won’t they?” Phillip responded.
While Jennings admitted that he didn’t know exactly why since he has not spoken to anyone in the White House about the remark, he ventured a guess as to why the Trump administration has remained silent on the shocking slur.
“My assumption is that they get asked to condemn things all the time, everybody everywhere that says something, they’re constantly being asked to condemn things, and my guess is they just sort of have a policy not to do it,” Jennings offered.
The panel appeared flabbergasted by this bizarre excuse, with Phillip firing back with, “Aren’t there some things that they should condemn? The idea that they always have to condemn things is not an excuse for not condemning things that should be condemned.”
Charles Blow then added that the president cannot condemn the remarks because he has also amplified conspiracy theories about Michelle Obama, including sharing posts calling her an anti-white racist. Blow also mentioned the president’s son, Don Jr., who shared a meme comparing Obama to a man in 2024.
Trump came under fire in February after sharing an AI-generated video that featured Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed on the bodies of apes. While the post was removed, the president declined to apologize, instead blaming his aides and claiming that he had only watched the beginning of the clip and did not know the racist imagery was at the end.
“Nobody knew that that was in the end,” he told reporters. ”If they would have looked, they would have seen it, and probably they would have had the sense to take it down.”
When asked if he condemned the racist imagery, Trump said, “Of course I do,” but then said he had no message for Americans who were offended by the video.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
