{"id":1636,"date":"2026-06-17T14:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2026-06-17T14:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T14:13:10","slug":"top-chef-finalist-forced-into-maga-denial-after-trump-ufc-appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>Yet another public figure has claimed their appearance at Trump\u2019s Freedom 250 event was not a political statement. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1634\">Judge Slaps Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Goons With Looming Deadline<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Dearden, a <i>Top Chef<\/i> finalist, performed at the event in Washington, D.C., doing a live cookout alongside Australian UFC Featherweight Champion and YouTube chef Alex Volkanovski. Prior to the cookout, Dearden wrote on Threads that he was \u201chonored\u201d to be a part of the \u201chistoric event.\u201d <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>While there, Dearden and Volkanovski cooked cheesesteaks. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>After fans questioned Dearden\u2019s presence at the controversial celebration, the professional chef insisted his participation was not political and said he was grateful for the experience. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether you agree with the event or not, getting the opportunity to cook on the South Lawn of the White House with Alex Volkanovski was an experience I\u2019ll never forget,\u201d Dearden wrote in the comments of his Instagram post. \u201cThanks to everyone who has supported the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dearden competed in Season 23 of Bravo\u2019s <i>Top Chef<\/i>, facing contestants including his identical twin brother, Brandon. The Virginia native further defended himself in a Threads comment responding to a follower, writing, \u201cYou don\u2019t know me, so deciding my political beliefs based on a UFC fan event where I was invited to cook is a pretty wild assumption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dearden isn\u2019t the only person being mocked or boycotted after attending the president\u2019s 80th birthday celebrations. He is the latest in a growing line of figures asking people not to make assumptions about political views based on this event. <\/p>\n<p>He follows comedian Nate Bargatze, who has been slated by fans for appearing at Trump\u2019s UFC fight at the White House lawn on Sunday night. Bargatze, a Grammy-winning stand-up, was spotted posing for photographs with MAGA royalty and hovering in the background of pictures mere feet away from the president. <\/p>\n<p>In the aftermath of intense backlash, sources close to Bargatze insisted that his appearance was \u201cnot political\u201d and that he attended because UFC is his \u201cfavorite sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the family-friendly comedian was still pictured smiling alongside MAGA\u2019s most prominent faces, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Cheryl Hines, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Arkansas Governor (and former Trump press secretary) Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Joe Rogan. <\/p>\n<p>Bargatze has since gone silent on social media, where fans have expressed disappointment over his decision to attend the MAGA-inspired bonanza. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1632\">Trump\u2019s Secret \u2018Hunger Games\u2019 Stunt for Vance and Rubio Is Leaked<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHate to learn who the real @natebargatze is,\u201d Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko posted on X. \u201cI was a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWeird hill for @natebargatze to die on right? The most vile place he could be,\u201d said a fan on Threads.<\/p>\n<p>Supermodel Gisele B\u00fcndchen\u2019s husband was also spotted partying alongside Trump\u2019s family and followers. Joaquim Valente, a jiu-jitsu instructor, was seen in photographs with the president\u2019s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, at the White House event. His Florida-based school, Valente Brothers, posted stories of the instructor at its official account. <\/p>\n<p>Valente has trained Ivanka at his school and has previously been seen socializing with the president\u2019s daughter. <\/p>\n<p>B\u00fcndchen, however, publicly refuted claims that she and her ex-husband, Tom Brady, supported Trump. The president has previously bragged that he won the NFL star\u2019s vote. \u201cGisele, I heard you and Tom were backing Trump! Is that true?\u201d an Instagram follower asked the model. \u201cNO!\u201d the supermodel replied. <\/p>\n<p>The fall-out from the big birthday bash continues. <\/p>\n<p>Dearden\u2019s social media posts are now littered with comments, both bashing his decision and supporting the chef. One supporter wrote, \u201cPeople hating because you did a food event at the White House are crazy. This ain\u2019t about politics, this about food and embracing opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But others were far less impressed. \u201cYou are far too good of a human being for this,\u201d wrote a follower. \u201cYou\u2019re always allowed to say no to opportunities that don\u2019t align with your values,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWow so disappointed honestly,\u201d said one. \u201cAs a DC resident, this is very very hard to watch. Our city is being occupied and you\u2019re participating in the circus to distract us from the FACISM.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><i>Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on <\/i><i>Substack<\/i><i> and <\/i><i>YouTube<\/i><i> for even more coverage.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1630\">World Leaders Guffaw at Trump\u2019s Bizarre Late Arrival<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yet another public figure has claimed their appearance at Trump\u2019s Freedom 250 event was not a political statement. Read more Judge Slaps Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Goons With Looming Deadline Jonathan Dearden, a Top Chef finalist, performed at the event in Washington, D.C., doing a live cookout alongside Australian UFC Featherweight Champion and YouTube chef Alex [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yet another public figure has claimed their appearance at Trump\u2019s Freedom 250 event was not a political statement. Read more Judge Slaps Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Goons With Looming Deadline Jonathan Dearden, a Top Chef finalist, performed at the event in Washington, D.C., doing a live cookout alongside Australian UFC Featherweight Champion and YouTube chef Alex [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nationwide Inter State Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Celebrity\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636\",\"name\":\"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?p=1636#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nationwide Inter State Movers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers","og_description":"Yet another public figure has claimed their appearance at Trump\u2019s Freedom 250 event was not a political statement. Read more Judge Slaps Trump\u2019s Kennedy Center Goons With Looming Deadline Jonathan Dearden, a Top Chef finalist, performed at the event in Washington, D.C., doing a live cookout alongside Australian UFC Featherweight Champion and YouTube chef Alex [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636","og_site_name":"Nationwide Inter State Movers","article_published_time":"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a"},"headline":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance","datePublished":"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636"},"wordCount":747,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Celebrity"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636","url":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636","name":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance - Nationwide Inter State Movers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-17T14:13:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/86e26fdd12ad2716ac57b6d0bd56c99d-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?p=1636#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Top Chef\u2019 Finalist Forced Into MAGA Denial After Trump UFC Appearance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/","name":"Nationwide Inter State Movers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/38cc622be76d7ce8c5366fe18559460a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationwideinterstatemovers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}