ST. LOUIS – U.S. men's national team star Christian Pulisic became the most recent skilled athlete to have a good time on the sector by doing the Donald Trump dance trend, moving his arms and hips much like the president-elect's signature moves after scored the primary goal within the United States' 4-2 win over Jamaica on Monday night.
“Of course, that’s the Trump dance,” Pulisic said when asked if he intentionally celebrated with viral moves. “It was just a dance that everyone did. He is the one who created it. I just thought it was funny.”
His teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also celebrated with Pulisic.
Several other athletes across sports have done the viral dance in recent days, including UFC fighter Jon Jones, who was ringside for his match with Trump, Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, and several other other college and NFL football players, including Tennessee Titans wide receivers Calvin Ridley and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Detroit Lions defensive players 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 sport. “We're just having a little fun, so I thought it would be a pretty fun dance.”
Since this trend has spread across sports, it’s unclear whether the celebration is a political endorsement or simply a dance that players find amusing. Although Pulisic said he was just having “a bit of fun”. His celebration quickly garnered attention on social media platforms, including from former U.S. men's national team defender and Fox analyst Alexi Lalas and Outkick founder Clay Travis.
But the US goalscorer said he didn't care if people on social media reacted to the dance more strongly than he intended.
“No, not at all,” Pulisic said. “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a lot of people doing it and I thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. At least I hope some people did.”
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