While Dana While says losing his UFC perch would not be a punishment for him, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel was slammed by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus for continued silence after leaked video showed the sports chief showing his wife at a New Year’s Eve party in Mexico hit .
“Every day that Mr. White’s actions go unsolved, your silence becomes more penetrating and troubling,” the influential Golden State political group said in a letter to Emanuel posted online.
“In the days since the video was posted, you have been silent,” said group leader Senator Nancy Skinner and congressman vice-chairman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry on behalf of 17 women senators and 32 state lawmakers.
“Your continued silence speaks volumes,” they remarked, before addressing Mel Gibson’s and Kanye West’s critic Emanuel’s words to him. “As you once wrote, ‘Silence and doing nothing is not an option.'”
“By this time, thousands of young men, women and adults worldwide have seen the video of Mr. White beating his wife,” the correspondence reads. “We also saw his apology. What we haven’t seen are consequences for his actions. As Chief Executive Officer of Endeavour, the parent company of the UFC, you have the authority to decide who runs the UFC, one of the most watched sports leagues in the world with millions of fans around the world. Mr. White is not only the outside face of the UFC, he is also the leader who sets the expectations for the athletes,” reads the scathing correspondence about the lucrative professional wrestling franchise that is Endeavor’s crown jewel.
Endeavor officials haven’t caught a glimpse of White since the NYE video went viral last week. The company did not respond to Deadline’s request for comment today on this latest chapter in a sordid tale.
However, White had his own thoughts on the situation, which he shared with reporters ahead of UFC Fight Night 217 on Jan. 14. According to the extreme sports boss, he’s been punished enough and his exit would hurt everyone else more than him.
“What are the consequences? You tell me. I’m taking 30 days off?” White asked reporters at a media event on Wednesday. “How does this hurt me? My leaving hurts the company. Hurts my employees. Hurts the fighters. Don’t hurt me.”
“Do I have to think? No, I don’t have to think. ..It belongs to me. I tell you I’m wrong,” he added — as you can see in the video below.
White admitted he spoke to his boss Emanuel about the incident and “nobody is happy about it”. As for punishment, “I have to walk around as long as I live… and that’s what I’m called now.”
And “many people, whether media, fighters, friends, acquaintances, who had respect for me, may not have respect for me now. There’s a lot of stuff I have to deal with for the rest of my life that’s a lot more of a punishment than, huh, I’m putting up with a 30-60 day absence? See video below.
As California lawmakers and others have pointed out, Emanuel has often staked a moral high ground in building Endeavor, most recently urging companies that do business with Kanye West to end their ties with the rapper after an anti-Semitic tirade. In 2010, he famously broke ties with WME client Mel Gibson after racial slurs.
“In light of Mr. White’s previous statements against domestic partner violence, we believed Endeavor and the UFC shared this commitment to safety, respect and accountability,” the bipartisan caucus’ Jan. 9 letter to Emanuel said. “You yourself have written extensively about the need to speak up and act when we see things that are inconsistent with our values,” added Senator Skinner and Deputy Rep. Aguiar-Curry Emanuel. “And yet we saw the video of UFC President Dana White punching his wife with a closed fist at a New Year’s Eve party. We were horrified. It was alarming to say the least.
Video footage of an argument on the balcony of a VIP suite in Cabo San Lucas nightclub in Mexico, released by TMZ, shows White’s wife Anne punching him after he grabbed her wrist. In response, White punches his wife in the face before the two are separated by other partygoers.
An immediate consequence of the incident is that TBS pushed back the premiere of White’s Power Slapping League to January 18. Not that hitting his wife or being postponed stopped a tin-eared white man from promoting the company on social media: