On June 14, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump transformed the White House South Lawn into a cage-fighting arena to mark a dual birthday celebration: his 80th and the United States' 250th.
Many people online noted that comedian Nate Bargatze attended the event after he appeared in a post on actor Cheryl Hines' Instagram account, alongside Hines and her husband, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The comedian also posed for photos with other Trump allies and Republican officials.
In response, people assumed (archived) that Bargatze was a Trump supporter. One X post (archived) stated: "Nate Bargatze set off my MAGAdar a long time ago. Glad to know I was right."
Bargatze's presence at the White House event may or may not indicate his political stance, but until he confirms in his own words, we can only speculate. We have reached out to Bargatze for a response and will update this post accordingly. For now, we leave this claim unrated.
Before his appearance at the UFC event, Bargatze had a family-friendly image in the media. A 2025 New York Times analysis of the comedian described him as "relatable, apolitical, inoffensive."
In a May 2025 interview with Esquire, Bargatze — who lives in the Nashville, Tennessee, area — described why he was selected to host the Emmy awards that year: "Why did they pick me to do it? Well, the election probably helped." The profile added that the election pushed media executives to look beyond Hollywood and ask: "Who doesn't live in L.A.? Who's available?"
Ahead of the 2025 Emmys, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bargatze said he would avoid Trump and politics in his material. "I know there's heartbreaking stuff that's been happening right now, but I want this night to be an escape and I think that's why I was brought on." He also referred to the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk as "the saddest thing in the world."
He added, "Everybody has to deal with that stress all day long. So I wanna be just that one escape where they can turn something on and hopefully relax and just have fun."
The comedian has appeared on a range of news outlets across the political spectrum, from Fox News to ABC's "The View" and even hosting a game show on ABC.
A representative for Bargatze told HuffPost about Bargatze's attendance at the UFC event: "Nate is family friendly entertainment first. … He is not political nor is anything he produces. He is also a huge UFC fan and has been since before it became political."
The spokesperson added that Bargatze has "fans from both sides of the aisle" and "doesn't turn down photo requests."
"For example, there's a photo of him and [former CNN host] Don Lemon somewhere," the representative told HuffPost. "He went last night to enjoy a sport he loves."
For further reading, we reported on whether Trump fell asleep at the UFC match.