BJ Penn’s T-shirt promoting gubernatorial campaign gets blurred out at UFC 276

The UFC has made it clear that it is not interested in helping promote BJ Penn’s political career. During the UFC 276 broadcast at…

By: Karim Zidan | 11 months ago
BJ Penn’s T-shirt promoting gubernatorial campaign gets blurred out at UFC 276
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

The UFC has made it clear that it is not interested in helping promote BJ Penn’s political career.

During the UFC 276 broadcast at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, the former two-division UFC champion appeared on screen dressed in a black cap and a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “BJ Penn for Governor” that was blurred out

The former two-division UFC champion was present at UFC 276 at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, where he showed up dressed in a black cap and a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Penn for Governor.” However, when Penn appeared on screen during the broadcast, the T-shirt had been blurred out, rendering it illegible to the audience watching at home.

enn officially announced his intention to run for governor of Hawaii as Republican alongside four other GOP candidates in April with the aim of replacing incumbent Democratic Governor David Ige, who is term-limited and ineligible to run for a third term in office.

Penn joined the GOP after finding his political fervor during the pandemic. The former fighter spoke out against mask mandates and vaccine restrictions, promising to lift them if elected governor.

However, Penn’s campaign has also been criticized for a lack of political direction. Since most restrictions have been lifted over the course of the past few months, Penn has not updated his gubernatorial goals. His official campaign website does not list any goals, though it invites Hawaiians to “join the fight” and donate to his campaign.

Penn remains active on social media and is using his platform of more than 360,000 followers on Instagram to attack U.S. President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party, as well as his fellow candidates. He has also spread misinformation about the global pandemic and spoke in opposition of gun control following the Uvalde elementary school shooting that led to the deaths of 19 children and two teachers.

While Penn’s campaign is alarming at best, it remains unclear why the UFC (or ESPN) opted to blur out the slogan. The organization has repeatedly hosted political figures at their events over the past few years, including former president Donald Trump and controversial Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

The UFC has even gone so far as to produce a Trump propaganda documentary entitled “Combatant in Chief,” which was promptly removed from the UFC Fight Pass streaming service following the January 6 insurrection.

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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