According to TMZ Sports, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White is livid that Jason Aldean chose to appear on Saturday Night Live instead of performing at UFC 216 in Las Vegas on Oct. 7.
White says he reached out to Jason’s team to see if he would perform the national anthem before UFC 216, where several shooting survivors and 1500 first responders were in attendance.
“[Jason’s] image was more important than coming back to Vegas and playing for the people who are his fans and who got shot watching him play,” White says, according to TMZ. “F**k you, Jason Aldean. Stay out of Vegas.”
Jason didn’t heed White’s warning. He returned to Las Vegas on Oct. 8 to visit shooting survivors at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada.
According to TMZ, White also claimed he reached out to “several country music stars” to sing the anthem but every single one turned him down.
“Those are people who buy your albums and none of you country music people could sing the anthem in front of survivors and first responders?” said White. “This isn’t about money. This is about the badass people who fought through this s**t that this coward did.”
Everlast performed “America the Beautiful” at UFC 216.
photo courtesy of JPA/AFF-USA
