Al Sharpton compares White House UFC event to entertainment for slave owners
Al Sharpton sparked backlash after comparing a planned UFC event at the White House celebrating America’s 250th birthday to entertainment once enjoyed by slave owners.
Rev. Al Sharpton accused President Donald Trump and Republicans of trying to return the country to a more racist era during a Thursday appearance on MS NOW's "Morning Joe," tying the dispute over redistricting to Trump's planned UFC event on the White House lawn and his admiration for Andrew Jackson.
"Trump and others are trying to bring us back to an America that we struggled to get out of," Sharpton said.
Sharpton argued that Trump’s embrace of a White House UFC event was connected to the same politics behind the redistricting fight.
"So there is a connection of why they’re having these fights on the White House lawn," Sharpton said. "UFC and all that, because they’re trying to go back to that when, you know, they watched people have these fights for the slave masters, and they’d be entertained by that."
Al Sharpton argued on MS NOW that President Donald Trump’s political agenda reflects an effort to return the country to an earlier era of American history. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
"They’re literally going back to that."
"Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski connected Sharpton's comments to immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
"Look at these raids," Brzezinski said. "It’s playing out on America’s streets."
Sharpton also pointed to Trump’s Oval Office decor during his first term as evidence of what he described as the president’s political vision.
During a "Morning Joe" appearance, Al Sharpton linked the fight over redistricting and Trump’s planned White House UFC event to broader concerns about the nation’s direction. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
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"Let’s not forget, one of the things that I think slips a lot of people, when Donald Trump first was elected in 2016, Mika, in 2017, when he went in the Oval Office, one of the first things he did was hang a picture of President Andrew Jackson," Sharpton said.
Sharpton noted Jackson's history as a slave owner and his role in elevating Roger Taney, the chief justice who wrote the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision.
Sharpton pointed to Trump’s admiration for President Andrew Jackson as he criticized what he described as attempts to revive a past America that civil rights activists fought to change. (Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
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"Andrew Jackson was a slave-owning president who nominated Judge Roger Taney to the Supreme Court," Sharpton said. "Taney became the chief justice that saw the Dred Scott decision passed."
Sharpton questioned why Trump’s decision to prominently display Jackson was not scrutinized more at the time.
"Why didn’t anybody ask Trump? Andrew Jackson, I don’t even remember reading about him in elementary school," Sharpton said.
UFC President and CEO Dana White recently insisted that the upcoming plans for a UFC fight at the White House for the America 250 celebration in June are not "political." (Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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Sharpton argued that Jackson's presence in Trump's Oval Office symbolized a broader agenda.
"Why Jackson?" Sharpton asked. "That’s the kind of country he wants us to go back to, Andrew Jackson, and we must resist that with all we have."
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The UFC event is scheduled for June 14 on the White House South Lawn as part of celebrations marking America's 250th anniversary.
The White House pointed to a Trump Truth Social post in a request for comment.
"I knew Al Sharpton for many years, not that it matters, but he was a major ‘TRUMP’ fan. He’d ask me to go to his fake Rallies all the time, because I brought BIG Crowds, and he couldn’t get anybody to come without me. Then he did the Tawana Brawley Hoax, one of the worst Low Level Scams in History, and that set him back, BIG TIME!," Trump wrote. "Then he got to know Brian Roberts, Chairman of Fake News NBC, who gave him what would become one of the Lowest Rated Shows in Television History. Roberts is afraid to take him off because it wouldn’t be "Politically Correct." This is just one of the many reasons that the Federal Communications Commission should look into the license of NBC, which shows almost exclusively positive Democrat content. Likewise, ABC Fake News — About the same thing, 97% negative to Republicans!"
The article was updated to include the Trump administration's response.
