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Former US President Donald Trump made his TikTok debut at last night’s UFC — after trying to ban the social media platform during his presidency due to ‘national security concerns’.
Trump posted the clip, a montage of his evening watching the UFC fight in New Jersey, just days after he became a convicted felon.
Social media users have been speculating about whether the 13-second video, captioned ‘Launching my TikTok at UFC 302’, is an attempt to appeal to a younger audience of potential voters.
Upon arrival at the Prudential Center in Newark, where the event was being held, the ex-president was greeted with a standing ovation and cheers of ‘USA, USA’.
Earlier this week, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying records to try and cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and silence her on an alleged sexual affair.
Each of the 34 counts carries a maximum sentence of up to four years in prison.
He is the first US president in history to be convicted of a felony, following what he has described as a politically motivated and ‘rigged’ trial.
Trump will, however, still be able to run for president – even though those with felony convictions like his are not even allowed to vote in the US.
He received huge standing ovation at UFC game despite his felony convictions this week (Picture: TikTok)
The TikTok post shows him walking into the arena as chants of ‘we want Trump’ and ‘f*ck Joe Biden’ echo through the crowd, with some proudly waving Trump 2024 flags.
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Before taking his seat, Trump high-fived and shook hands of various supporters, repeatedly thanking his fans.
‘Well you had a sneaking suspicion that former President Trump would be in the building for UFC 302,’ said one commentator.
‘Boy, the round of applause he’s getting right now is pretty staggering,’ Joe Rogan, who was the other commentator, replied in disbelief.
Joe Biden’s campaign joined TikTok in February (Picture: Vanessa Carvalho/ZUMA Press/Cover)
He was met with a standing ovation (Picture: Getty)
Fighter Kevin Holland greeted the former president (Picture: Getty)
After UFC athlete Kevin Holland defeated Michal Oleksiejzcuk in the ring, he leapt out of the cage to shake Trump’s hand, and appeared to whisper something in his ear.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is at risk of being banned in the US after president Biden signed a law in April.
Trump wasn’t a fan of the platform during his presidency, and attempted to ban it over national security concerns.
He said he believes the app is still a threat, but thinks such a ban would only anger young people and divert users to Meta — which owns Facebook and Instagram.
In 2021, the former president was banned from social media platform Facebook for two years after the Capitol Riot.
He has said that ‘Facebook to be an enemy of the people along with a lot of the media.’
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