Darrell Davis: Snuffing out MMA

Meryl Streep didn’t just blast president-elect Donald Trump.

During her speech at the Golden Globes, the award-winning actress also berated football and mixed martial arts. Her criticism of Trump was blunt and totally warranted because nobody, especially the U.S. president, should publicly ridicule someone in a less-powerful position. As usual, thin-skinned Trump responded by calling the best actress of our generation “overrated.”

Streep’s sideswipe at football and MMA was more subtle. Streep said throwing all foreigners out of the United States would leave people without movies, watching only football and mixed martial arts —”which are not the arts,” according to Streep.

Streep can talk about whatever she wants. And in this instance she’s absolutely right. Most sports are forms of legalized violence. They’re certainly not artistic endeavours. Movies are also violent. But when the promoters of MMA leapt to their own defence in the aftermath, they insisted their activity was artistic. Ya, so do the makers of snuff films.