Pulisic celebrates USMNT goal by copying Trump’s dance moves: ‘I just thought it was funny’
ST. LOUIS – U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic has become the latest professional athlete to celebrate on the court by doing Donald Trump’s dance trend, moving his arms and hips in a similar way to the president-elect’s signature moves after scoring the opening goal in the United States. States’ 4-2 victory over Jamaica on Monday evening.
“Well, that’s obviously the Trump dance,” Pulisic said when asked if he was deliberately celebrating with viral moves. “It was just a dance that everyone did. He’s the one who made it. I just thought it was funny.”
Teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also joined Pulisic in the celebration.
Several other athletes from various sports have done the viral dance in recent days, including UFC fighter Jon Jones, with Trump ringside for his match, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers and several other college and NFL football players, including Tennessee Titans wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Detroit Lions defensemen Za’Darius Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez.
“I saw everyone do it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it,” Pulisic said after the game. “We’re just having a little fun, so I thought it was a pretty fun dance.”
Now that the trend has taken off in the sport, it’s unclear whether the celebration is a political show of support or just something the dancers find amusing. Although Pulisic said he was just having a “little bit of fun”. His celebration quickly gained attention on social media platforms, including from former US national team defender and Fox analyst Alexi Lalas, as well as Outkick founder Clay Travis.
But the American goalscorer said he didn’t care if people on social media responded to the dance more than he intended.
“No, not at all,” said Pulisic. “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw some people do it and I thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. I hope at least some people did.”
(Photo: Bill Barrett/Getty Images)
