GRIP AND GRIN

Top-Selling Comedian Who’s ‘Not Political’ Grins With MAGA Royalty

Nate Bargatze has carefully cultivated a non-political persona.

A grinning Nate Bargatze spent his “not political” visit to the White House UFC event cozying up to extremely powerful MAGA figures.

The Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated comedian, who has been careful to paint himself as politically neutral, was caught in the eye of a storm after he popped up at “Freedom 250,” a dizzying spectacle of masculinity and the new-look GOP on the White House’s South Lawn on Sunday.

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The Republican Party has become a refuge for conservative celebrities and personalities fed up with “wokeness,” and that was the charge leveled against Bargatze, 47, after he was spotted at the event posing in a photo with one of President Donald Trump’s right-hand men, conspiracy-prone Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife, former actress Cheryl Hines.

But according to the source, the appearance was “not political,” and the funnyman was only there because mixed martial arts is his “favorite sport.”

The source spoke to the Daily Beast after Hines uploaded the photograph to Instagram, and Bargatze was spotted mingling in the crowd as Trump thundered towards his ringside seat. Now, more photos have emerged.

Bargatze, who has 3.1 million Instagram followers, posted nothing about his attendance on social media, but others have.

In one photo posted by Mike Johnson, he poses alongside the Speaker of the House, another of Trump’s most loyal lieutenants and most willing spin doctors. Country singer and American Idol judge Luke Bryan, who, like Bargatze, has flirted with MAGA without ever making his political affiliation clear, was also in the photo.

Bargatze was also pictured beaming alongside Arkansas Governor (and former Trump press secretary) Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Joe Rogan, the MAGA-curious podcaster who MC’d the UFC event at the White House, and who failed to act—or even comment—when fighter Josh Hokit made a cruel remark about former first lady Michele Obama.

Rogan, to his credit, is not impervious to criticism of some of Trump’s more questionable moves (see ‘starting a war in the Middle East’), but it was with his help that the MAGA figurehead reached a younger audience, which translated into millions of votes at the polling booth in 2024.

To complete an eyebrow-raising photo set, Bargatze then jumped into a snap with a man who founded a conservative activist factory. Ned Ryun, the CEO of American Majority, a conservative organization that trains candidates and activists, gleefully shared it on X. “I mean gotta get a pic with Nate Bargatze,” he wrote.

Despite our source’s protestations that getting a photo with a fan, be they a Democrat or a Republican, is not an endorsement of their politics, some of the popular comedian’s fans have made up their minds.

One user on Threads, who said Bargatze was her “favorite,” said she is now “sad” over his political choice. “I don’t wish him any ill will. In fact I hope he sees the light & becomes vocal against maga. But I am really, really sad. I’m sure I missed the signs. Anyway, John Mulaney has taken his place as my fave,” she wrote.

“Finding out Nate Bargetze is MAGA is the most disappointing news of the day,” wrote another. Someone added, “For future reference, ‘I’m not into politics’ means ‘I’m MAGA.’”

“Weird hill for @natebargatze to die on right? The most vile place he could be,” said another fan.

Anti-woke writer Bridget Phetasy reacted to the Beast’s coverage of Bargatze’s appearance by sharing a grab of one of our stories and demanding, “LEAVE NATE BARGATZE ALONE YOU GHOULS.”

She was joined in her mini-meltdown by Saleno Zita, an author who stroked Trump’s ego when she wrote the book Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland. It had a short stint at the top of the New York Times bestseller list before it slid down the rankings, which Trump then suggested were “rigged.”

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“What she said; hands off Nate Bargatze he’s a national treasure,” Zito said.

A source, meanwhile, told the Daily Beast that Bargatze had spoken with his team about the potential repercussions of attending the event but decided to go anyway.

The two-time Saturday Night Live host appears to have ditched his usual careful approach. His rise has coincided with a reluctance to dip into politics. Bargatze, who was raised in a devout Christian household in Nashville, Tennessee, has even explained why.

“Politics have got into everything,” he said in a March 2021 profile by Vanity Fair. “Comedians, movies, television. So why do you need me to do it? I don’t have a college education. I almost didn’t graduate high school. What on earth can I tell you? You should never vote for something I tell you to do. I’m not smart enough.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the comic’s reps for comment.

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Leigh KimminsReporter

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