Josh Hokit says racist and transphobic insult of Michelle Obama was a ‘compliment’
The controversial mixed martial artist said he does not regret his infamous remarks about America’s first Black First Lady, claiming he did it as an exercise of free speech.
Josh Hokit, the professional MMA fighter who insulted Michelle Obama at the White House’s UFC Freedom 250 event last week, says he has no regrets about his remarks, which he said were a “compliment” to the former U.S. First Lady.
As theGrio previously reported, after winning his match at the June 14 UFC event on the White House South Lawn, Hokit shockingly said to the audience of thousands, “Michelle Obama is a man, am I right, America?”
Despite the public backlash and being slammed as racist and sexist, Hokit doubled down during a Tuesday podcast interview on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“I thought I was giving her a compliment,” said Hokit, to which the show’s host, Ariel Helwani, said, “I don’t think anyone viewed it as much.”
Hokit continued to defend his very personal insult of America’s first Black U.S. First Lady, adding, “Michelle Obama being a man, that’s like, uh, she knows how to deal with adversity, you know, she knows how to work hard like a man.”
Helwani then asked Hokit how such a remark even came to mind at that moment. “You just got this massive win. Of all of the things you can say, why even go there?”
Hokit replied, “I thought it was a perfect opportunity to, you know, show the world how great this country is with, uh, with the freedom of speech…in other parts of the world, you say something like that, you’re not here to speak.”
When asked if he regrets the remark about Mrs. Obama, Hokit said, “Oh, never. That’s one thing about my career…you’ll never see me backtrack from what I say.”
While Hokit is unapologetic about his remarks about Michelle Obama, they drew swift condemnation, including from fellow mixed martial arts fighter Daniel Cormier.
“It was irresponsible. It was nasty. It was horrible. It was unnecessary…It’s lame as f–k,” said Cormier, who is Black. Cormier said Michelle Obama was “the classiest person you will ever meet, who has only represented herself, her family, in this country with grace.”
He added of Hokit, “It was just an unnecessary shot on her in a setting that didn’t need any of that type of stuff. So many people right now in our country are trying to divide. That’s the type of statement that divides. We as a country should be trying to come together.”
As theGrio previously reported, former NFL player Cam Newton also commented on the viral insult, calling it “tasteless.”
“In our culture, we don’t play about certain individuals,” Newton began. “Certain people are untouchable, or what they will call it in another culture, a made man or in this case a made woman. If you utter anything disrespectful about an Obama, it don’t matter if it’s the daughters, it don’t matter if it’s the wife. It doggone don’t matter if it’s the president. If you talk about their dogs, it is in question. They’re some good people, they served this country well and they’re innocent bystanders.”
Newton added, “You could have said any Michelle. But Josh, we don’t play about that one.”