ST. LOUIS — U.S. men’s national team star Christian Pulisic became the latest professional athlete to celebrate on the field by doing the Donald Trump dance trend, moving his arms and hips similarly to the signature moves of the president-elect after scoring the opening goal in the United States’ 4-2 win over Jamaica on Monday night.
“Well obviously that’s the Trump dance,” Pulisic said when asked whether he intentionally celebrated with viral moves. “It was just a dance that everyone’s doing. He’s the one who created it. I just thought it was funny.”
Teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also joined Pulisic in the celebration.
Several other athletes across sports have done the viral dance in the last few 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 defensive players Za’Darius Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez.
“I saw everyone doing it yesterday in the NFL, I saw Jon Jones do it,” Pulisic said after the game. “We’re just having a bit of fun, so I thought it was a pretty fun dance.”
As the trend has taken off across sports, it’s unclear whether the celebration is a political endorsement or just a dance players think is amusing. Though Pulisic said he was only having a “bit of fun.” His celebration quickly gained attention on social media platforms, including from former U.S. men’s national team defender and Fox analyst Alexi Lalas, as well as Outkick founder Clay Travis, among others.
But the U.S. goal scorer said he wasn’t concerned with whether people on social media reacted to the dance as more than he intended.
“No, not at all,” Pulisic said. “It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a bunch of people do it and I thought it was funny, so I enjoyed it. I hope some people did, at least.”
(Photo: Bill Barrett / Getty Images)
