It’s been eight days since troubling footage emerged of Dana White slapping his wife at a Mexican nightclub on New Year’s Eve, and pressure has mounted well beyond the MMA community for UFC parent company Endeavor to take action.
On Monday, the California Legislative Women’s Caucus (CLWC) posted online a letter addressed to Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel calling for “the immediate removal” of White as UFC president. To this point, Endeavor has remained silent about White’s domestic violence incident that was caught on video. The political women’s advocacy group of 18 state senators and 33 assemblywomen made clear in the letter just how troubling that is to them.
“Your continued silence speaks volumes,” the letter reads. “As you once wrote: ‘Silence and inaction are not an option.’ … Every day that Mr. White’s actions go unaccounted for, your silence becomes more piercing and troubling.”
In an interview with TMZ in coordination with the release of the disturbing video, White owned up to his actions and said “there’s no excuse” for slapping his wife and pushing her down to the ground after she slapped him during an argument. Prior to his wife’s slap, video shows White grabbing his wife by the wrist.
White’s words fell in line with his comments from a 2014 interview in which he stated, “There’s one thing that you never bounce back from, and that’s putting your hands on a woman.”
In concluding its letter, the CLWC seemingly called back to those comments.
“The head of a major sporting organization cannot claim to be for the safety of women while a video of him striking his wife continues to circulate online without a response from you,” it read. “The hypocrisy is astounding. Enough is enough. It is time to remove Mr. White from his leadership role, to allow him and his partner to get the help they need while reminding the world of what Endeavor stands for and that violence against women is not a conduct that you condone.”
In addition to Endeavor, the UFC has declined to officially comment on the situation.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can contact the U.S. National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).