Dan Le Batard Is Outraged Over Dana White Slapping His Wife But Employs Wife-Choker Howard Bryant: Bobby Burack

Podcast host Dan Le Batard has dedicated extensive airtime to the video in which UFC President Dana White slapped his wife after she struck him in the face on New Year's Eve.

Le Batard criticized ESPN's compromised business relationship for the network's soft coverage of the matter. He called the overall reaction, and subsequent lack of anger from UFC fans, "top to bottom disgusting." He has given journalist Ariel Helwani a platform to exploit the domestic incident as a means to further his personal feud with White.

Last week, Dan Le Batard suggested the media must show more outrage to pressure Endeavor to enforce a punishment on White.

“This doesn’t stay in the news stream unless there’s media pressure,” Le Batard continued. “There needs to be a media pressure, there needs to be a media outrage in order for this to have consequences. They’re the worldwide leader in sports and they do tend to help with how this stuff happens, and they’re compromised here by a business interest.

Now, Le Batard's focus on Dana White is not unreasonable. White deserves criticism and Le Batard is holding him accountable.

However, Le Batard's coverage is inherently hypocritical. He comes across as someone who has zero tolerance for domestic violence. But his action suggests otherwise.

While Le Batard and his guests screech incessantly about Dana White's actions, he continues to employ a character by the name of Howard Bryant.

The name Howard Bryant might ring a bell to even non-sports fans. Last summer, Bryant published an op-ed on July 4 condemning the United States of America. Bryant asked that before Americans head to their annual cookout, they remember Jan. 6 and the purported racial injustices that exist across the nation.

Dan Le Batard Is Hypocritical

Still, Bryant's anti-American grandstanding is not why we reference him in connection to Le Batard's coverage of White.

Rather, Howard Bryant was arrested in 2011 for choking his wife in public. Per the Hollywood Reporter, Bryant assaulted his wife in front of his six-year-old son. He was also charged with assaulting a police officer who arrived to protect his wife after he observed Bryant beating her.

(He initially blamed racism for his arrest before  pleading the charges down to six months of probation.)

And despite Bryant's sociopathic, wife-beating behavior, Dan Le Batard signed him to his Meadowlark Media company in 2021.

Le Batard promotes him heavily during his program. He speaks fondly of Bryant's character.

Dan Le Batard, a fierce critic of Dana White, is an avid supporter of a man police arrested for choking his wife.

We had hoped to ask Le Batard about his disparate reaction to White and Bryant's treatment of their wives. However, he did not respond to an email request or phone call from OutKick.

So, that leaves us with various questions. How can someone call for more "media outrage" over White slapping his wife but then advocate for Howard Bryant?

Is it because Bryant is an ardent leftist and White has a friendship with Donald Trump? Is it because Bryant is black and Dana is white?

Of course, the races of the two subjects play a role in Le Batard's response to their abuses, but is it the only reason? We can't say for certain.

Ultimately, Le Batard is not nearly as virtuous as he pretends. He has used Dana White's unbecoming New Year's Eve as a source of content, a segway to besmirch his former employer, ESPN.

ESPN is compromised, as Le Batard states. If the network didn't have lengthy business ties to the UFC, it would cover the matter more aggressively.

But Le Batard is also compromised. He overlooks Howard Bryant's disturbing behavior because he flails about the same supposed injustice Le Batard has used to solidify his brand.

The UFC is useful to ESPN's portfolio. Likewise, Howard Bryant's woke, anti-Amercian, and anti-white commentary is useful to Dan Le Batard's mission to build the most progressive, supposedly diverse sports media brand on the market.

Thus, they both grant clemency to two men who assaulted their wives. 

Written by
Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics.. Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.