Comedian W. Kamau Bell blasts Nate Bargatze over White House UFC appearance

Comedian W. Kamau Bell has publicly rebuked fellow stand-up Nate Bargatze for attending the UFC Freedom 250 fights at the White House earlier this month, accusing him of “willingly associating with proud fascists” in a Substack essay published Monday.

Mr. Bell, the former host of CNN’s “United Shades of America,” titled his post “It Is So Easy To Not Do This” and addressed it broadly at celebrities he described as presenting themselves as “nice” and “good” while photographing themselves alongside figures he labeled fascists. Mr. Bargatze was the essay’s most prominent target.

“Don’t be in a photo with fascists,” Mr. Bell wrote, offering it as his first rule for such figures. 

Captioning a photograph of Mr. Bargatze at the event alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, Mr. Bell wrote: “Notorious nice and good guy comedian Nate Bargatze at the UFC Freedom 250 cage fights at the White House. If you ever saw me in a photo with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., you can be guaranteed that my family was being threatened.” 

Mr. Bell also singled out actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt for attending two of billionaire Peter Thiel’s secretive Dialog conferences, as well as tennis great Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, for his presence at the White House cage fights.

Mr. Bargatze, 47, the highest-grossing comedian in the United States, did not publicly promote his attendance at the event, but images from the gathering spread widely online after Ms. Hines posted an Instagram Story showing the three together inside the White House. Additional photos showed Mr. Bargatze alongside Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, podcast host Joe Rogan, country singer Luke Bryan and House Speaker Mike Johnson. 

Mr. Bargatze brought in $56.7 million in ticket sales in 2025 with his Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, according to Billboard, and this year won a Grammy for best comedy album for “Your Friend, Nate Bargatze.” He has long cultivated an apolitical brand, previously telling The Washington Post that he avoids politics in his act because, as he put it, “I don’t think it’s what people are coming to me for.”

A source close to Mr. Bargatze told Variety that the comedian attended the June event because UFC is his “favorite sport,” and that his presence was “not political.” A representative elaborated to the Huffington Post that Mr. Bargatze took a picture with Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Hines because he does not turn down photo requests. 

Advertisement Advertisement

Mr. Bell was unmoved by that framing.

“No one cares how much you wanted to see the fights at the White House,” he wrote. “The White House is currently registered as the home of a fascist … If you don’t want to be a member of Team Fascism, then after we see you with fascists, it is up to you to actively and immediately begin digging yourself out of the fascism hole and working your way back to the correct side of history. For the record, a statement from your rep or a social media post — or really anything short of immediate real world action doesn’t count.” 

Mr. Bargatze has not publicly responded to Mr. Bell’s essay or to the broader backlash surrounding his attendance.

This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times' AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times' original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com

The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.