Days after attending the controversial UFC-White House event, Alexis Ohanian condemned the derogatory comment MMA fighter Josh Hokit directed at former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The Reddit co-founder, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams, took to X on Wednesday to voice his disapproval over Hokit calling Obama “a man” after his match on Sunday.
“Lot of people asking me to comment: Yes, that fighter’s slur about former First Lady Michelle Obama was vile and inappropriate,” Ohanian wrote. “I attended the UFC event via invitation from TKO/IMG leadership (I own 5 pro sports teams + a league). I was already on my way home when those comments were made and was glad to see Dana [White] condemn them.”
As Ohanian went on, he indicated that his prior lack of statement did not signal any kind of support for Hokit, adding, “For context: I resigned in protest from Reddit (the company I co-founded and built for over a decade) specifically to push it to curb communities for hate and violence on the site.”
However, several on social media weren’t swayed by Ohanian’s explanation, with many suggesting he shouldn’t have attended the event in the first place – especially given the Trump administration’s anti-DEI policies.
“You could have declined that invite, despite your relation to the sports world,” one critic wrote on X. “Not a great look.”
Another chimed in with, “You shouldn’t have been there. You’re an epic disappointment. With a dynamic and conscious Black wife and Black children being harmed by this administration, you put your cronies over your family AND this country. Shame on you.”
A third commented, “Why were you there in the first place? This explanation is weak and I have lost all respect for you.”
Ohanian joins several prominent figures who’ve condemned Hokit’s words for Obama, including UFC CEO Dana White, who said he was “completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s families.”
Fox News columnist David Marcus even took to X and wrote,”The fighter yelling ‘Michelle Obama is a man,’ at an official White House event to honor America is utterly unacceptable and the administration should denounce it in no uncertain terms. I’ve defended the administration’s America 250 plans, because I trusted they really would be non-partisan, really would bring us together. But I was wrong.”
Democratic Texas Congressman Christian Menefee expressed a similar sentiment, writing, “They really let a UFC fighter call our only Black First Lady a man on the White House lawn at an official White House event … while thousands cheered and the biggest podcaster in the world smiled. There is no economic policy fix for this. Many of these people are just racist.”
Hokit has yet to personally apologize to Obama over the remark.
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