Pulisic celebrates USMNT goal by copying Trump’s dance moves: ‘I just thought it was funny’

ST. LOUIS – US men’s national team star Christian Pulisic became the latest professional athlete to celebrate on the pitch by doing the Donald Trump dance trend and moving his arms and hips in the president-elect’s signature moves after scoring the opening goal in the USA States’ 4-2 -victory over Jamaica on Monday night.

“Well, of course it’s the Trump dance,” Pulisic said when asked if he was intentionally celebrating with viral moves. “It was just a dance that everybody was doing. He created it. I just thought it was funny.”

Teammates Weston McKennie and Ricardo Pepi also joined Pulisic in the celebrations.

Several other athletes across sports have danced virally in the past few days, including UFC fighter Jon Jones, with Trump ringside for his fight, 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 ends Za’Darius Smith and Malcolm Rodriguez.

“I saw everybody 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.”

As the trend has taken off across sports, it’s unclear whether the celebration is a political endorsement or just a dance players find amusing. Although Pulisic said he only had “a bit of fun”. His celebration quickly gained attention on social media platforms, including from former US Men’s National Team defender and Fox analyst Alexi Lalas, as well as Outkick founder Clay Travis, among others.

But the American goalscorer said he wasn’t worried if people on social media reacted to the dance as more than he intended.

“No, not at all,” Pulisic said. “It is 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.”

(Photo: Bill Barrett/Getty Images)