President Donald Trump stirred speculation over the weekend after joking on Saturday that UFC chief Dana White had been offered the job of White House press secretary.
The position has been vacant since Katie Zacharia’s five-day stint ended on October 16. In his post, Trump suggested White should bring several well-known mixed martial arts fighters with him, including Khabib Nurmagomedov and Amanda Nunes, saying they could help defend the country from the “Lunatic Left.” He added that White would be unlike any other press secretary.
White responded on Instagram with an AI-generated image of himself at the White House briefing-room podium and the caption, “On to the next chapter.” Asked about Trump’s announcement at a boxing event later that day, he laughed and told reporters he was flying to Washington.
White said he had a meeting scheduled with Trump on Monday, but noted that he already had plenty of jobs.
Some people wondered whether Trump had confused the UFC executive with Dana W. White, a former assistant to the secretary of war for public affairs. White W. addressed the mix-up on LinkedIn, thanking people for their congratulations but clarifying that they had the wrong Dana White. She said she had taken questions from Pentagon reporters, but had never entered an octagon—and preferred to keep it that way.
She added that it was nice, for a change, to see the UFC executive mistaken for her, and wished the next White House press secretary well. Dana White responded to her post by calling her a class act.
Trump addressed the joke on Sunday, saying the clues were there in his original announcement, particularly his suggestion that White bring foreign fighters to the White House. He mentioned Khabib and Justin Gaethje, and said people might have realized he was having fun.
“I was only kidding,” Trump said, adding that White liked the idea. He also appeared to confirm their Monday meeting, saying White was coming the next day.
Talk of White potentially becoming press secretary comes weeks after White House communications director Steven Cheung jokingly floated Trinidadian-born rapper Nicki Minaj as a possible candidate.
