United States forward Christian Pulisic has claimed there was no politics behind celebrating a goal against Jamaica on Monday night with Donald Trump’s viral dance.
The AC Milan player gave his country the lead in the second leg of the CONCACAF Nations League quarter-final, then scored again in the 4-2 victory.
Pulisic managed to beat Jamaica goalkeeper Andre Blake with a cross in the box, flicking the ball into the net and moving in celebration. He then proceeded to perform dance moves similar to the president-elect’s, which have exploded on social media in recent weeks.
Trump’s looming second presidency has massively divided America and the wider world, with Pulisic’s actions sparking an equally divided and significant reaction on social media. He later insisted he just thought it was a “pretty funny dance”, denied any political endorsement and branded it a knock-off after seeing other sports stars take part.
“Well, obviously, that’s Trump’s dance,” Pulisic told reporters when asked if it was intentional. “It was just a dance that everyone did. He is the one who created it. I just thought it was funny. I saw everybody do it in the NFL, I saw (UFC fighter) Jon Jones do it.
“It’s not a political dance. It was just for fun. I saw a lot of people doing it and I thought it was fun, so I enjoyed it. I hope there are people, at least.”
The dance even reached England’s League One on Friday, with Barnsley players using it to celebrate a goal in their game against Rotherham United.
