As most know by now, UFC boss Dana White was caught on camera hitting his wife on New Year’s Eve.
The two were in some argument, and she slapped him, and he reacted by hitting her back.
He apologized for the matter, and there have been a lot of reactions to it, but none have gotten the attention that Stephen A. Smith’s response has gotten. Stephen A., who typically takes a much harsher approach to things like this, decided to take it very easy on White, calling him a friend he said he loved. He did say that man should put his hands on a woman under no circumstances, but he still took it very easy.
He’s gotten a lot of criticism for his reaction to the matte,r considering he’s been harsh on lots of other athletes, and to make matters worse, ESPN MMA writer and analyst Jeff Wagenheim says that the reason Stephen A. took it so easy on White was that they were told not to say anything incendiary on social media on the matter but wants people to understand that others at ESPN don’t have a sort of a take on domestic violence as Stephen A.
He later said that it wasn’t this specific thing ESPN told them not to say anything incendiary about,t just in general.
Another added layer to this for White is that TBS has delayed the start of Dana White’s Slap League a week. The show was in jeopardy after news broke that White hit his wife, but it seems that TBS has deemed the situation salvage only to delay it.
Only time will tell if there is more fallout from all of this.
It isn’t unusual for media networks to silence employees when they are in bed with a league. ESPN and UFC are tied together, so I can see why they wouldn’t want their employees badmouthing White. The problem of course is if this was Jon Jones, you already know what would have happened.
Flip the page for more about White’s slap league and the ESPN ban.
