(Adnkronos) – The ‘Trump dance’
conquers the world of stars and stripes sport. On the occasion of the match between the United States and Jamaica, it was Christian Pulisic who celebrated with the dance made famous by the tycoon’s rallies. The AC Milan striker, who scored a brace, after scoring the opening goal in the 13th minute, lowered his shoulders, clenched his fists and moved his arms back and forth, just like the US President-elect did to the tune of YMCA by Village People.
The celebration immediately went around the web and generated a bit of a stir, so much so that Pulisic had to specify that there was no political message behind that dance: “I saw everyone do it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it, and we were just having some fun. I thought it was a pretty funny dance,” he said post-game, “obviously it’s the ‘Trump Dance,’ but it was just a dance that everyone was doing. He created it and I thought it was funny. It’s not something political, I like it.”
The ‘Trump dance’ has now gone viral in the world of stars and stripes sport. It all started the weekend following Trump’s re-election to the White House, when in the NFL, the American football league, the defensive end of the San Francisco 49ers Nick Bosa, a well-known Republican supporter, celebrated a ‘sack’, or a tackle on the opposing quarterback, with the ‘Trump dance’, surprising everyone on the field and in the stands: “All my teammates wanted me to do it. I wasn’t even planning on doing it, but the kids reminded me. And it was fun.” Bosa was also fined more than $11,000 by the league for wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
Last Saturday, however, the MMA fighter Jon Jones, considered one of the greatest fighters of all time, celebrated winning the heavyweight title by climbing onto the cage and doing the ‘Trump dance’, right in his presence, in the front row of ringside, of the tycoon himself. Afterwards Jones, who had already expressed his support for Trump before the elections, shook hands with the new president and allowed him to hold and raise his belt as well.
Different versions of the ‘Trump dance’ have taken over NFL fields over the past weekend. First it was Detroit Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith, then Calvin Ridley of the Tennessee Titans and Brock Bowers of the Las Vegas Raiders. Bowers himself explained after the match that “I saw her do Jones and I thought she was cool”, but after these words his team banned him from any further interviews.
Finally, the ‘Trump dance’ has also landed in golf, on those tees which are one of the tycoon’s great passions. It was the British golfer Charley Hull who performed it, walking on the lawn of the Pelican Golf Club, in Florida. Previously, athletes were prevented from making any reference to politics, but the strong endorsements for one or the other candidate that arrived in the last elections and the explosion of ‘Trump dance mania’ suggest that something, in the very concept of American sport, has changed.
