Yesterday, thanks to a tip from Steve Cofield at YAHOO SPORTS, I reported that ESPN’s E:60 investigative unit recently confronted Dana White about his online video tirade directed at Sherdog/ESPN reporter Loretta Hunt and the gay community.
(Who would you rather run your legitimate, mainstream sports league?)
The interview will not air until May 12, but ESPN did respond to my inquiry today about the upcoming piece.
From ESPN Communications Manager Mac Nwulu:
“As part of an in-depth profile of Dana White and UFC, E:60 correspondent Tom Farrey and crew conducted an interview with White in Montreal Saturday, April 18. This was the final interview for E:60’s reporting that has included considerable time and interviews with White in Las Vegas, New York and Boston.
“During the 30-minute interview in Montreal, Farrey gave Mr. White the opportunity to address and respond to his recent remarks about MMA reporter Loretta Hunt, among other questions. White candidly answered the questions and his answers are part of a revealing, comprehensive profile of the man behind one of the fastest-growing sports.”
OK, that was a little deflating. I’ve since replied to Nwulu asking for more detail on the interview. In ESPN’s defense, it wants you to watch the piece, so you can understand why the net doesn’t want to reveal too much.
But in a case like this, the longer White is let off the hook, the less chance he’ll receive a rebuke. By the time ESPN airs the interview on May 12, most people will have moved on.
Actually, most have moved on at this point anyway. Which to me is a sad commentary on how people view women in society, and what celebs can get away with these days. It’s appalling.
I think the reason I won’t let it go is that I didn’t know what kind of guy White was before I watched the video. I didn’t know what a miserable person he was going in, so his disgraceful display really caught me off guard. Most that saw it already knew that White acts like that all the time, so they’re accepting of it. But it blindsided me, and I still can’t get my head around it.
To that point, I really had accepted UFC/MMA as a legitimate, mainstream sporting endeavor. But with White receiving no reprimand for his actions, I’ll have a hard time taking it more serious than a sideshow going forward.
If you are running a big company in the public eye, you have a responsibility to act according to societal rules. Here in America, credible, public personalities who do business with companies like Anheuser-Busch and dozens of other mainstream concerns don’t keep their jobs if they act like that.
I really have pity for those defending White. You really are saying it’s okay to address a woman that way when representing a mainstream American company?
Actually, forget about repping a company. It’s okay to call a woman those names in public for ANY REASON? That’s the way animals act. My god. (What am I missing?!)
Unless a woman has perpetrated a serious crime against me, I would never, ever address her that way. Especially on a video I was marketing to fans of the sports company I oversee!
So go ahead, keep defending White. Keep defending the hate-filled rage he perpetrated on Loretta Hunt. Of course, she DESERVED IT! You go Dana!
The irony in this matter is that UFC fans want their sport to be taken seriously, but then they defend White’s actions, which dropped MMA right back into the credibility cesspool for many casual fans of the sport. Especially females, who make up a larger portion of the MMA fan base than most realize.
Hopefully ESPN pursued the matter thoroughly in its piece on White. Perhaps we’ll get subsequent guidance on that from Nwulu shortly.
10:43 pm on April 22nd, 2009
dude, a "sad commentary on how people view women in society"? i like your blog and everything (except for anything cameron posts) but you guys objectify women like it is your job, and this is the high horse you choose to get on and ride for weeks? come on already
12:08 am on April 23rd, 2009
So SbB, if I feel like you have taken this issue and ran it into the ground over the past few weeks, I am siding with Mr. White? First let me say, I love MMA and the UFC. Yet even my simple mind knows that ,Dana White is a meathead and a moron that lets his mouth go because no one has shut him up yet. He will end up screwing himself in the end. There is no way that someone that arrogant and out of touch with common sense lasts without crashing and burning. Ok, with that being said, do YOU not have a vault/den of flesh on this site that is strictly for the purpose of your own financial/career interest? Who are you to sit and pass judgment on anyone with regards to the treatment of women? I mean haven’t you used the female figure to garner a ‘unique’ place on the net in regards to sports reporting/blogging? How are you different from Mr. White????? Because you do not use foul language in regards to these women??? No you just use their gorgeous bodies! (Which-just for the record, I am thankful for, don’t get me wrong!) Now, I am not naïve enough to think that you are not causing such a stir to try and drum up hits on your site. I am sure I am “playing into” your little ruse. But c’mon my man!! Let it go! It is old, it is tired, and you need to give us more great pics of Wendy 4! Stick to what you are good at brother. Takin pics, writing comic prose about sports and just giving us all a fun way to look at it. DROP IT B!!!!!!! White will screw himself eventually. This is just stupid.
1:57 am on April 23rd, 2009
Airbear, your post makes too much sense. Hypocrisy runs rampant in todays world.
5:57 am on April 23rd, 2009
Sure Airbear, SbB dangles photos of the world's hottest females on it's site to attract its mostly male readers. It's an acceptable way to market. You see it in beer commercials, casinos, restaurants, movies and television.
But you ask Brooks how he can "sit and pass judgment on anyone with regards to the treatment of women?" And then "How are you different from Mr. White?"
In most cases, promotional models, actresses and waitresses choose to wear skimpy outfits, hardly ever eat and practice poses and behaviors to make themselves sexy as hell. They get money, status and attention from men and, in truth, other women are envious.
Many of these hot women make a good living this way and nobody is hurt or mistreated by it.
But you don't see the CEOs of Hooters, Budweiser or FOX Television making rambling venomous remarks that belittle a woman that they have a personal vendetta against like White did.
And because it's a fighting league, that doesn't make it OK.
Can you imagine Steve Wynn, Rupert Murdoch or August Busch making YouTube videos that disparage female employees or subcontractors. I don't think so.And if they did, the public outrage would likely do them in the same way it hurt former Patriots owner Victor Kiam when he mishandled the Lisa Olson situation in the 1980s by calling her a "classic bitch."
What if the woman in White's cross hairs was your sister, your wife or girlfriend? Right now, she might be somebody's mother.
With newspapers sinking fast, blogs will begin to adopt the watchdog role more and more.
Readers know Brooks as a keen marketer and clever story teller. But my guess is that he wants to gain influence in a more serious way.
Yeah, SbB is a light-hearted look at sports stories and big jugs. I doubt that will ever go away. But I see nothing wrong with Brooks mixing in a little journalism every now and then, too.
6:05 am on April 23rd, 2009
I think you guys are missing the point. Brooks runs a personal blog, that does have its showcase of women on it…(thank god)…and the only person Brooks has to answer to is himself.
Dana White is in the promotion business, and he's promoting his sport in a negative fashion, getting away with it, and nobody is calling him out on it…because…"it's how he is". Now, I'm not saying he hasn't brought MMA to the public eye, but now that it is…it should be as responsible to its viewing public, as the rest of the legitimate sporting world, that is…if it ever wants to get taken, covered, and respected as a legitimate sport. This is not to bang on the athletes, because they are legitimate. But you can't go around calling women who cover your sport "cunts", your athletes, "faggots", etc..etc.. Because, to me, and it looks like to Brooks, that you are making a mockery of your sport, meaning the media, and fans alike can do the same…and that isn't good for the sport. So I thank Brooks to holding a candle to this dark side of things, because I do love the sport…and this sort of thing ruins it. Its uncalled for, its unecessary, and its "bush league" "amature" or whatever else you want to call it. This MMA Game has alot to offer the sporting world, but if it wont take itself seriously, why should anyone else?? And in all honesty, I loved the rant. Nobody rants like Dana, and I found it hilarious, but you didn't do the sport any favors, which I find way more entertaining than any of the shenanigans of White's. Plus, Airbear..you're probably right…White will screw himself, but not until people like Brooks, ESPN and more media outlets point out how he's screwing himself.
8:06 am on April 23rd, 2009
Airbear, I'm mostly with you. Brooks either needs to drop it or admit his 'special feelings' for Jeremy Schaap. Phil D, Dana White's rant had nothing to do with promoting the sport of MMA. He was pissed at the hatchet job (did you read it? It was pathetic) some woman did on the company he's passionate about. Poor choice of word, sure? But that's Dana being Dana. And except for Liberals, most of us think actions speak louder than words. Until you have pics of White beating down Lesbians, there's no story here. And no long term damage to UFC - the people who are outraged by his rant were never going to be fans.
1:29 pm on April 23rd, 2009
Hey SBB, can you post the criteria of what type of comments are allowed so I know how far I can go in pointing out how much you are hypocrites without getting my comments erased?
The hypocrisy of this site is clearly laid out in past responses to similar statements by different people and or "hotties". That okay to say?…
2:41 pm on April 23rd, 2009
@Ted D. Amen. Every week there are posts by Brooks and his guest 'writers' that slam women. But Brooks defended our 'Community Organizer In Chief' Hussein Obama when he ripped off his 'Special Olympics' rant on kids who can't defend themselves - and said the media was making way too big of a deal out if it. But he's on Dana White like he just wiped out a roomful of pre-schoolers with his Hummer.
I think either Brooks needs to come out of the closet or has a close relative who's a 'non-breeder'.
5:21 pm on April 23rd, 2009
Phil, I agree with you and understand your point about "what if it was my mother?". But the point I was attempting to shed light on was…..why has this lit such a fire under Brooks? I mean tell me if I am wrong…but he has dwelled on this situation! Is it because it is Dana White and he has a beef with him or MMA in general? Is it Because this reporter Mrs./Ms. Hunt is a friend or even just a colleague that he felt the need to drag this out? All I am saying is, please do not pat Brooks on the back so much when as you put it, he uses women in a clever promotional tact. That is just burying your head to what the real thing is here. I mean my assumption is Phil, that you know those female models are on this sight. What if that was your Mom, or Sister that thousands of guys are "dreaming" about??? Maybe in a sick or violent way??? In my view this goes both ways, 'rocks and glass houses' in my opinion. White is a loud mouth that will end up letting that orifice write a check that he cant physically cash in the end. And as far as Brooks, in my opinion (which doesnt add up to much), he is a good guy sticking up for this female reporter but from my view point he has a few skeletons that question his credibility here. As i said earlier….this is stupid, let it go Man.
11:20 pm on April 23rd, 2009
I don't think Brooks has a personal vendetta against White anymore than he had one against former Kentucky coach Billy Gillespie.
SbB ran a story on this site that suggested Gillespie was rude on air to ESPN reporter Jeannine Edwards because she wouldn't date him. Then when Gillespie got fired, Brooks' secret source inside the walls of Kentucky basketball told him that his expose caught then attention of influential people that helped lead to Gillespie's demise.
In serious newspapers, it's stories like that that win awards. Last week in Las Vegas, the Sun won the Pulitzer for a series of stories about how poor work place safety was leading to the accidental deaths of construction workers at City Center. City Center management addressed their safety issues and everybody was better off.
My guess is that the brothers Fertitta have already told White to smarten up and were probably the people who shut down his video blog. So some good has already been done.
The Fertittas and White were childhood friends and they owe Dana because buying UFC was all his idea, so they won't cut him loose anytime soon.
If this story was written in the New York Times and compartmentalilzed on an editorial page, Brooks wouldn't be getting as much backlash. But SbB readers, I think, come here to escape serious news and the way this blog is set up all stories get the same play.
Brooks is not the story here so calling him names instead arguing the issues seems like something right out of the Dana White playbook.
Didn't everybody attack Jose Canseco as a hypocrite when his book came out? But he has done more to clean up steroid use in baseball than anybody.
The truth is the truth.
2:39 pm on April 24th, 2009
Sorry, what is Brooks here to expose? He adds no new information to the story, his claim that its being ignored by all but him is false, and his reactions to other people using homophobic slurs in the past reveals him in this case to be a hypocrite.
I can appreciate coming to the defense of a fellow blogger, which this is so very obviously a case of, but crowing and crying this hard over what in the end is a foul language story really makes Brooks and this site look less professional and more personally and nonsensically biased.