Dana White issued an “apology” for his ridiculous Internet rant about Sherdog.com writer Loretta Hunt, but seemed to be completely unaware of what he should be apologizing for.

In the 53 seconds that White allotted to his most recent video blog to the apology, White apologized only to the gay community, apparently for using the word “faggot” to describe an anonymous source.

He later went on to tell Mary Buckheit of ESPN.com’s Page 2 that he was sorry for offending the gay community, but he absolutely meant to attack Hunt.

“I absolutely meant to attack Loretta Hunt and her story and that Web site,” White told Buckheit. “There are times when I will go after people on purpose.”

I’m sorry, but the media treatment of this rant is as bad as the rant itself. Here you have the CEO of a multi-million dollar company calling a reporter of his product a “fucking bitch,” and “fucking retarded,” along with calling the anonymous sources she used a “fucking faggot.” What part of that makes you believe that the choice of using “faggot” and “retarded” is the bad part.

I’ve been around sports for a long time and I’ve been around people for a long time. I’ve heard the words “faggot” and “retarded” on thousands of occasions. Those are poor choices of words. But in the bigger scheme of things, the story here is that the CEO of a major company was calling a reporter of his company a “fucking bitch.”

In no other business and in no other sport can a “businessman” like White go on the record with this kind of attack and get this kind of soft-handed treatment.

ESPN should be ashamed of themselves for only covering the gay angle of this story, and not the White vs. Hunt angle. And ESPN.com has a partnership with Sherdog.com! You would think that they would support their colleague. Instead, they gave White a free pass for acting like an asshole, simply because he has a solid track record of being an asshole.

Here’s the video of his apology.

Clearly, this apology was only made because he felt he had to. There is no sincerity — none more than the typical “I love gay people…one of my best friends is a gay,” type of canned responses. I don’t doubt that White is not a homophobic or anti-gay. I don’t think that using the word “faggot” in the way he used it is anti-gay. It’s a word that many of us grew up hearing and/or using in completely non-sexuality type ways. That is not my problem with the video.

The problem I had with the original video and with the subsequent apology video is that White handled the original article and his thoughts about it (and Hunt) completely unprofessionally. That is not the way the sports/sports media relationship is supposed to be.

For a guy that has been desperate for years for the coverage/approval of the mainstream sports media, this was no way to get some national attention. And then when the story blew up, he should have, like it or not, apologized to Hunt for his unprofessional behavior. He can stand by his version of the story all he wants, but his treatment of her was uncalled for and she deserves an apology.

I enjoy the sport of mixed martial arts, but I can’t fathom how anyone in their right mind would willingly do business with this guy.

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