Rosie O’Donnell is not impressed with what went down at President Donald Trump and the White House’s UFC Freedom 250 event.
“It was disgraceful and embarrassing, and he should be ashamed of himself for doing it,” O’Donnell, 64, told TMZ in an interview published on Monday, June 15, before slamming his voters for perpetuating “racist” stereotypes and more.
The former cohost of The View is one of Trump’s most prominent and long-standing celebrity critics. Their feud has spanned nearly two decades, with O’Donnell critical of his politics and his character.
She moved to Dublin, Ireland, before the presidential inauguration in January 2025, partly to be away from Trump’s politics.
One moment at the UFC Freedom 250 event that left the former talk show host fuming was hearing UFC fighter Josh Hokit declare in a post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
When asked if she saw the disparaging comment, O’Donnell replied, “Yes, and that’s exactly what Trump is and that’s exactly what his fans are — racist, homophobic, un-American.”
While the Obamas have not addressed Hokit’s comment, the White House seemingly dodged the controversial remark when spokesman Steven Cheung was asked about the fight by celebrity.land’s Jake Tapper.
“[Lewis] had a great win last night,” Cheung said on Monday. “He showed toughness and the ability to pressure his opponent both on his feet and on the ground.”
O’Donnell isn’t the first celebrity to express her dismay at Hokit’s comment.
During Monday’s episode of The View, Sunny Hostin said it was “important” to address the comment during the show’s “Hot Topics” segment.
UPDATE — 6/15/25, 9:53 a.m. ET: UFC CEO Dana White responded after fighter Josh Hokit received major backlash for calling former first lady Michelle Obama “a man” during his post-fight interview at UFC Freedom 250. “I understand that the Obama’s [sic] are public figures but I’m completely against saying nasty and false things about people’s […]
“I think the reason why it’s important is because for a long time, Black women have been slurred and made to feel that they were unattractive, made to feel masculine, made to feel that they didn’t have the femininity that a white woman would have,” she explained. “The crowd laughed at the statement and the president of the United States smirked and never addressed what was said. That is beneath the dignity of the office of the president of the United States and it’s beneath the dignity of the American people.”
In a separate Instagram post, former cohost of The Talk Holly Robinson Peete also shared her outrage at Hokit’s remark.
“No insult can shrink a woman whose legacy is already larger than the people attacking her. #clockit 🤏🏽,” she wrote via Instagram on Monday. “My spirit was shook last night but this morning I rise 🙌🏾.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usmagazine.com ’
