UFC’s Dana White Slams Jason Aldean For Refusing His Recent Offer To Perform For Vegas First Responders
Owner and President of the UFC Dana White blasted Jason Aldean for refusing to sing the national anthem at a UFC fight in Las Vegas Saturday night. Instead, Aldean performed on SNL instead of accepting White’s job offer to sing for survivors of the Las Vegas Massacre last week.
White told TMZ Saturday that Aldean’s booking people turned down an offer to perform at an event where fifteen survivors and hundreds of first responders from the Las Vegas shooting were present. Instead, Aldean decided to go on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and perform Tom Petty’s song, “Won’t Back Down.”
Aldean was the artist performing on stage when shots began to rain down on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas Sept. 30. The country music artist is reportedly still shaken up from the tragic shooting, which killed 59 people and injured over 500. White claimed Aldean told him that he might never perform live again, according to TMZ.
“His 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 told TMZ. “F*ck you, Jason Aldean. Stay out of Vegas.”
White said he pressed Aldean’s team to get the country music star to sing the national anthem at UFC 216 because he said it would have meant a lot to the survivors and first responders present at the event. However, Aldean declined the offer and flew to NYC to perform on SNL.
“Those are people who buy your albums and none of you country music people could sing the anthem in front of survivors and 1st responders?” White continued, saying the performance should not be about money but about those affected by the shooting. “This isn’t about money. This is about the bad ass people who fought through this shit that this coward did.
Reporters have attempted to reach out to Jason Aldean to get a response for why he chose not to sing for survivors at the UFC events. At this time Aldean has stayed silent on the matter.
H/T Daily Caller