UFC President Dana White has entangled his own company in the Gina Carano controversy.
White was questioned on Saturday night after UFC 258 about Carano, the MMA fighter’s actress.
“Leave her alone. We’re making mistakes, we’re all making mistakes,” White said. “For everyone to go in to her … I like how Ariel Helwani made everything about him, such a shower.”
Carano was recently fired by Disney from ‘The Mandalorian’ after a series of strange postings on social media, including one in which she compares the political climate of today to the Nazi era.
“Jews were beaten on the street, not by Nazi soldiers, but by their neighbors … even by children,” she wrote on Instagram with a picture of Nazi Germany.
“Because history is being edited, most people today do not realize that to reach the point where Nazi soldiers could easily gather thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply because they were Jews.”
Helwani is a top UFC reporter and is Jewish. He posted a video over the weekend in which he shared his thoughts on Carano.
‘I’m obviously very disappointed with what she posted. To be honest, I did not agree with many of the things she posted over the past year, ”said Helwani, who heads ESPN’s MMA coverage. ‘This last message, which is mainly compared to the fact that one is a Republican in America, or has a certain political view, with a Jew in Nazi Germany during World War II, is Asian. This is an absolutely crazy comparison to make and is completely insensitive to think that Jewish people and other minorities, not just Jews, but in this particular post Jews were the ones discussed, had to hide in attics and gutters and had to be separated from their families and killed six million of them.
‘Umm .. to compare it to what’s going on in this country is just a very deaf analogy to put it mildly. Now I’m not one, I do not like the whole cancellation culture and all that. I’m not here to talk about someone’s service or anything like that. I can hear about the comment. The state. The analogy.
“As a Jewish person, and as a human being, it just doesn’t sit well. And I wish she would never have posted it. And honestly, I wish someone would have talked to her about her social media over the past year. Some of them are not even political. Just generally they feel for me. I’m sorry she followed this path. ‘
Carano fought for Strikeforce and EliteXC, setting a 7-1 record between 2006 and 2009 before drawing her attention to acting.
White and Helwani have a turbulent history. White briefly suspended the reporter in 2016 due to the news that Brock Lesnar is returning to the sport. White accompanied Helwani from UFC 199 for reporting on the information, claiming he was banned for life before recalling it after two days.
When reporters reached this point, ESPN decided not to comment on the situation or to defend one of its more prominent reporters. Helwani’s colleagues, both within ESPN and the UFC community, expressed their support for him.
ESPN and the UFC are at the center of a $ 1.5 billion five-year rights partnership that began in 2019.
Carano has promised to resume her career, apparently with the controversial website The Daily Wire.
“They can not cancel us if we do not allow it,” Carano told the outlet. “The Daily Wire helps to make one of my dreams – to develop and produce my own film – come true. I cried out and my prayer was answered. I send a direct message of hope to all who live in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. ‘