"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
Those were the words of Meryl Streep on Sunday night, when she collected Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. Despite the majority of her speech being focused on United States President-elect Donald Trump, her comments on MMA have garnered much publicity in the sport.
Within hours of Streep's speech, Bellator MMA President Scott Coker wrote an open letter to the 67-year-old, inviting her to an event later this month in Los Angeles.
As a martial artist and an MMA promoter, here is my open letter and #Bellator170 invite to the very talented #MerylStreep #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/zostN22RAK
— Scott Coker (@ScottCoker) January 9, 2017
UFC President Dana White decided to wait until Monday to respond to Streep's comments. They were less courteous towards the actress.
"The last thing in the world I expect is an uppity 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts", White told TMZ Sports.
"Saying something stupid like that is like saying that [Streep] is not a talented actress, which she is, she is a very talented actress," White added.
"She's not educated about the sport, and it was a completely uneducated comment", White concluded.
It's safe to say he will not be following on from Coker's invitation, and inviting Streep to a UFC event.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
