MMA Fighters Steamed Meryl Streep Said Their Sport Isn’t Art
Reaction to Meryl Streep‘s Golden Globes speech can be summed up as follows: “Yay!” from the celebs, “Boo!” from the far-right commentariat. But there’s another group of folks that are as miffed at Lady Meryl as Sean Hannity and Tomi Lahren are… though for much different reasons.
While extolling the importance of the arts and multiculturalism in American society, Streep took a drive-by shot at two very popular sports: “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
The comment got a strong reaction from the MMA community, who are used to attacks against their sport dating back to Sen. John McCain’s infamous description of it as “human cockfighting” during the early years of the UFC.
I agree w/ her but MMA was also brought to US by foreigners.@roriongracie who start everything is an immigrant too. https://t.co/89JcUtIpju
– Demian Maia (@demianmaia) January 9, 2017
Meryl Streep how ignorant are u. In your speech you stated “Disrespect invites disrespect” yet you ignorantly disrespected an entire sport.
– Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) January 9, 2017
Really weird to see someone talk about not discriminating then basically discriminate against an entire group of skilled, hard working ppl.
– Megan Olivi (@MeganOlivi) January 9, 2017
Also Read: Did Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn Hate Meryl Streep's Speech? Twitter Thinks So
When asked by a TMZ cameraman about his thoughts on Streep’s comments, UFC president Dana White called them “stupid” and “uneducated” and said that Streep was “an uppity 80-year-old lady.” Streep is 67.
MMA president Scott Coker was a bit more diplomatic in his response, tweeting out a letter inviting Streep to his promotion’s event at The Forum on Jan. 21, which features a match between former UFC fighters Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz.
But for some fighters, Streep’s speech didn’t faze them in the least. Take the response from former fighter Rosi Sexton.
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