Dana White is facing calls from California lawmakers to step down as UFC president after video surfaced of him beating his wife at a Mexican nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
The California Legislative Women’s Caucus on Monday addressed the open letter to Ari Emanuel, the CEO of Endeavor, the media holding company that owns UFC.
“Every day that Mr. White’s actions go unaccounted for, your silence becomes more penetrating and disturbing,” read the letter from Sen. Nancy Skinner and Rep. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry. “By this time, thousands of young men, women and adults worldwide have seen the video of Mr. White beating his wife. We also saw his apology. What we haven’t seen are consequences for his actions.’
Endeavor spokespeople did not immediately respond to ‘s request for comment.
Dana White is facing calls from California lawmakers to step down as UFC president after video surfaced of him beating his wife at a Mexican nightclub on New Year’s Eve
Lorenzo Fertitta, Teressa Fertitta, Anne White and Dana White (left to right)
The letter contains several references to White’s apology, in which he said there was no excuse for his behavior, and to previous statements in which he raised concerns about domestic violence. For example, in 2014 he said, “There’s one thing you never shy away from, and that’s to lay hands on a woman.”
In their letter, Skinner and Aguiar-Curry use White’s earlier statements as the reason for his dismissal.
“The head of a major sports organization cannot claim to be pro-women’s safety while a video of him beating his wife continues to circulate online without your action,” the letter continued. “The hypocrisy is amazing. Enough is enough.’
The California Legislative Women’s Caucus on Monday addressed the open letter to Ari Emanuel (pictured), the CEO of Endeavor, the media holding company that owns UFC
The letter was written by California Sen. Nancy Skinner (right) and Rep. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (left).
Skinner and Aguiar-Curry want White to resign or be removed from Endeavor
White had promoted the launch of his new slap-fighting league, but the debut was delayed due to negative publicity surrounding the video of him slapping his wife. TBS now plans to do the PowerSlap premiere on January 18th
Video of the incident first surfaced on TMZ and showed Anne White slapping her husband of three decades in a VIP area of a Cabo nightclub. White responded by hitting her multiple times and physically restraining her.
The couple have since issued statements, apologizing for the episode and insisting it was an isolated case.
“This is one of those situations that’s horrific, I’m embarrassed — but it’s also one of those situations where we’re more worried about our kids right now,” White said. “We have three kids and obviously we’ve been showing the kids the video since the video surfaced and we’re more focused on our family now.
“I’m literally not apologizing at all for this thing. This has never happened before. It’s the first time it’s happened. People will say what they will say and it is what is. What people say is deserved. I earn it.’
Anne White gave a statement to TMZ here.
“Dana and I have been married for almost 30 years,” she said. “To say this is out of character for him is an understatement. There has never been anything like it. Unfortunately we both drank too much on New Year’s Eve and things got out of hand on both sides. We discussed this as a family and we apologized to each other. I just hope people respect our privacy for the sake of our kids.
White, Anne and their three children live in Las Vegas, where the UFC does much of its business.
He had promoted the launch of his new slap-fighting league, but the debut was delayed due to negative publicity surrounding the video of him slapping his wife. TBS now plans to do the PowerSlap premiere on January 18th.
White was again criticized as part of the PowerSlap promotion.
One Twitter user wrote: “Hmm yeah too soon too soon.”
Endeavor spokespeople did not immediately respond to ‘s request for comment on Skinner and Aguiar-Curry’s open letter