TikTok star Addison Rae made headlines in July after introducing herself to former US President Donald Trump at a UFC fight, prompting Dana White to personally reach out amid the ensuing backlash.
Addison Rae is swiftly becoming a huge name in mainstream media. After skyrocketing to fame on TikTok in 2019, Rae has gone on to release her own original music, score a makeup line and even land a starring role in an upcoming Netflix film.
That being said, in spite of her success, the social media star received a slew of backlash after going out of her way to introduce herself to former United States President Donald Trump at UFC 264.
The entire exchange was caught on camera during a vlog from YouTube group The NELK Boys — and it instantly went viral. Rae immediately received a slew of criticism over the matter, prompting screenshots of older Tweets she’d purportedly liked appearing to support the Republican candidate to circulate online.
Addison Rae going to introduce herself to Donald Trump LMFAOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/b57U4ej60Y
— jackie (@trippieejackie) July 13, 2021
As the meet-up happened during a UFC event, UFC President Dana White claimed he reached out to the TikToker-turned-actress shortly after the backlash kicked up, as told during an episode of the NELK Boys’ ‘FULL SEND’ podcast in August.
“I called her,” White admitted. “I said,’ F**k ’em.’ F**k ’em all.'”
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“She’s a good kid,” he continued. “She’s a nice kid. I called her, and said, ‘Listen. Who gives a f**k? F**k all of them.'”
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Rae herself has refused to comment on the situation publicly, even turning away and running back to her car when paparazzi asked her about the outrage.
Historically, Rae has denied any accusations of supporting Trump, after fans previously claimed that she had a Trump flag on her bedroom floor in a Twitter photo and even spread around her purported voter registration in a viral TikTok, which she also claimed was fake.