JD Vance this week literally laughed off MMA fighter Josh Hokit’s vile “Michelle Obama is a man” insult during the controversial White House UFC event in June, dismissing the backlash to the slur as wildly overblown.
Speaking on the latest episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Vance claimed he was surprised the remark became a national story.
“I work in politics, people say crazy stuff all the time,” Vance told host Joe Rogan.
“People lost their minds about it,” he continued, recalling how his communications team worried he would be asked about the incident during an appearance on “The View.”
“I was like, ‘What? An amped up fighter told a joke after a fight?’ And that’s actually national news?” he said, before adding, “I’m still shocked the shit that people get really fired up about,” he said.
Rogan, who emceed the controversial UFC event, held on President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, said he understood why the comment drew criticism, given that it was made at the White House. However, he put it down to the “bad guy” persona that Hokit adopts for fights.
It was “not the best thing to say at the White House,” Rogan added.
“Fair, but the reaction to it to me was still totally disproportionate. Dude, people say stuff all the time. I work in a business where, obviously, people make life-and-death decisions all the time. And I’m always a little bit caught off guard by the culture that just overreacts.”
He added, “The worst you could say is, ‘Oh, that was an offensive comment,’ and you get on with the rest of your life. Like, that’s the worst that you could say. The people who really flip out about it and kind of lose their minds, I don’t understand that.”