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First of All with Victor Blackwell

Is This The World Cup Of Chaos; Writer: "Exclusion, Disunity And Segregation" In U.S. For World Cup; Fans Call Out FIFA, US After Somali World Cup Referee Denied Entry; Fight To Save International African American Museum; White House Gears For UFC Freedom 250 Fight Tomorrow; Haiti Forced To Change World Cup Jerseys After FIFA Rejects Political Elements. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired June 13, 2026 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:14]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: First of all, Team USA is off to a better start at the World Cup than maybe even the most optimistic fans had hoped. 41 over Paraguay is easily the best performance so far of these opening matches. But at this World cup, the U.S. won't be judged on just how the team plays, but also how the U.S. hosts the other teams and fans who come to watch.

On that score, we have seen some positives. It's been really inspiring, for example, to see how the city of Lawrence in Kansas has welcomed the Algerian national team to their community. The University of Kansas their marching band, they even learned the national anthem for Algeria to welcome the players to their base camp for the cup.

And given everything that their country is going through with Ebola and the conflict, it was dope to see the team from the Democratic Republic of Congo pull up with this. Have you seen this? This leopard print drip. That sort of thing has historically been what the World Cup is about.

Fans around the world are getting together in a fun atmosphere to watch their team play what's called the beautiful game. That's why there's also been a lot of disappointment about how hard it has been for some people to come and participate.

Omar Artan was going to be the first person from Somalia to referee a World Cup game, but he was denied entry. Now, we don't know why, other than Customs and Border Protection said that he was, quote, "inadmissible due to vetting concerns."

He did get a warm welcome as he got back to his home country. Somalia is one of the 39 nations impacted by a Trump administration travel ban. On that list, Iran, Congo, Senegal, and Haiti, which makes its World Cup return tonight after more than 50 years.

Commentator and retired England footballer Ian Wright went viral this week for this take on the controversies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN WRIGHT, COMMENTATOR AND FORMER ENGLAND PLAYER: Every few hours, it's another story, another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied. Now, refs, you know something? I'm laughing, but it's not funny. It's actually not funny.

Something has to be said. Expensive tickets. Most expensive tickets ever. You know what? This is the World Cup. This is a World Cup of chaos. Whoever wins this World Cup is going to have to go through some serious, serious chaos to get this done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Well, this is another assessment I saw this week. Quote, "Not everyone is invited to the party. In the days preceding Thursday's opening ceremony, the news has been of exclusion, disunity, and segregation."

Morgan Ofori is the reporter who wrote that analysis for the Guardian, and he's with me now.

Morgan, thanks for being with me. I want to start here with Omar Artan, who was initially issued a visa but denied entry when he arrived. You told one of my producers that his denial is, quote, "an institutional travesty." Why?

MORGAN OFORI, REPORTER, THE LONG WAVE AT THE GUARDIAN: Thank you for having me, Victor. Yes, I see it as an institutional travesty. Omar Artan has more than proven himself to be an elite official. He has been accredited by FIFA since 2018 and by Africa.

Africa actually named him the best referee last year, the CAF, the governing body for Africa. So, there has been so many markers and so many landmarks he's hit to be able to work at this World Cup. And, yeah, it's a disappointment to see that this is. This is the treatment he's received.

BLACKWELL: I'm not going to pull you into the political conversation here in the U.S. But I do want to remind everyone that the president has spoken personally about Somalis in the U.S. Here's a reminder of what the president said in 2025.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no -- they have no anything. They just run around killing each other. I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest with you, okay?

Somebody say, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don't want them in our country.

We're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Let me also play the reaction from the FIFA president, John Infantino. This is what he said about that rejection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIANNI INFANTINO, FIFA PRESIDENT: Of course, it is unfortunate as well what happened to Omar, the referee from Somalia. But again, we don't control everything. We try. We will discuss, we will speak, we will see. Maybe sometimes it's good as well to just, you know, chill, relax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:14]

BLACKWELL: He says chill. How is that resonating with the 10 African nations, the teams that are in this tournament, and the fans?

All right, obviously having a technical issue there with Morgan. We'll try to get back to him if we can.

Another sporting event that we're watching, this UFC fight at the White House. Retired fighter and Hall of Fame, Sugar Rashad Evans will be here to weigh in on how black and Latino men have helped grow the sport and whether that's of the political consideration for the president to host the event.

First, though, the effort of four black candidates to unite behind one black candidate to make sure their Florida district remains represented by a black member of Congress falls apart. I'll speak to one of those candidates next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:10:47]

BLACKWELL: We fixed that shot with Morgan Ofori from the Guardian. He's back with us. I played just before the break, the FIFA president saying, as it relates to Omar Artan, the Somali ref referee who was not allowed in the U.S., that maybe people should just chill and relax. What's been the reaction across these 10 African teams, the nations there, and the fans to that characterization?

OFORI: Yes, Victor, I think there's, you know, as you say, it's a record number of African teams. First time they've got. We've had 10 countries represented at a World Cup. That change was meant to be an expansion that signified inclusion.

But some would say that shows the opposite. What happened to Omar is showing the opposite. And it's not obviously just himself. There are stories of supporters not being able to take up the allocation or having visa issues, also. And obviously, it's a far cry. They were trying to make it a far cry from the more Eurocentric World Cups, from the earlier years of the World cup, early editions of the World Cup. But it seems a bit more like, yeah, exclusion is what -- is what people are experiencing.

BLACKWELL: And you say, you reported for the Guardian that this goes beyond just the players and the teams and the refs talk about the credentials for journalists who want to cover the sport and what they're facing as well.

OFORI: Yes. So the president for the Association of International Sports Reporters, he's written a letter to FIFA basically saying that there are countless cases of Iranian and African journalists who are going through numerous visa issues, some having single-entry visas. And so if they have -- they're covering games that are taking place across more than one country, there are going to be some logistical issues with that. And yet he says it's unacceptable.

And so, you know, this is something that's going beyond sort of just maybe one official or a few fans. This is just the logistical architecture of the tournament has been under threat here.

BLACKWELL: Morgan Ofori with the Guardian. The tech issue took a big chunk out of our conversation, but I appreciate your reporting as we watch the fuller picture of the World Cup hosted here in North America.

Another competition we've been watching is a political one, unlike really one I've seen before. This is the fight to keep a majority minority district in Florida under black representation. And this week it got a little messier.

Four black Democrats in Florida, they're set to face Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Now because of redistricting in Florida, she's decided to run in Florida's 20th district.

Those four met at least twice with the idea of settling on just one candidate to face Wasserman Schultz. Well, that plan has now officially fallen apart.

All four black Democrats have qualified for the ballot and plan to stay in the race. And that includes former congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who had to resign that seat over an ethics investigation.

Luther Campbell, a.k.a. Uncle Luke, we talked to him last week here, and his reaction probably foreshadowed that this was coming.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUTHER "UNCLE LUKE" CAMPBEL, (D) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR FLORIDA'S 20TH DISTRICT: You know, I actually straight up to our face, how are you going to overcome the issue of your federal trial? I asked her that in that meeting. I ask Elijah, how you know, you're a young guy. You are our future. But is the time now for you? I asked Dale, you a career politician. You have not. Neither one of you all in this room has not made millionaires like I've made millionaires.

I looked at everybody in the room. I just sat there and listened and I talked at the end. But I only saw one person in that room that's capable of fighting this juggernaut, and that's me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: So where does the leader of the Florida Democratic Party stand on Wasserman Schultz's decision to run? Well, for the first time, we are hearing from her.

[08:15:06]

Nikki Fried told the Miami Herald. "I'm disappointed by the congresswoman's refusal to engage in meaningful dialogue about her decision, especially after our Democratic ecosystem coordinated so closely to stop Republican redistricting."

The Herald also reports, "Fried had been working behind the scenes in recent days to facilitate a dialogue and between black political leaders in Florida and Wasserman Schultz's campaign. But those efforts fell apart after the congresswoman's campaign refused their invitation, according to the party." They add that "Wasserman Schultz's campaign did not respond directly to questions about that proposed meeting."

Let's get reaction now from another of the four black candidates in this race, Elijah Manley. Elijah, thank you for being with me.

Let me start here with this discussion. At least consideration of consolidating and coalescing around one candidate. What happened to that? Take me inside the room.

ELIJAH MANLEY, (D) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE FOR FLORIDA'S 20TH DISTRICT: Yes. Well, Victor, first, thank you for having me on. You know, it was a productive conversation at the beginning, but, you know, I think the egos ended up taking over the conversation. You know, we have to talk about the fact that you have somebody with federal indictment running who had to give up their seat.

You have somebody who's never been involved in our community. You have somebody else with the shadow of indictments around them. You know, I strongly felt that I was the best candidate. I still do.

You know, somebody who's bringing in a new generation of leadership to fight to keep this seat in black representation, but also who can raise the resources to take on. Debbie Wasserman shows. I've raised nearly a million dollars. I will be able to take her head on because what she's doing is wrong.

BLACKWELL: But you have your justification, just as the other candidates in the room would have their justification. Was there any scenario in which you would have dropped out of this race to support another candidate as not to split the black vote in Florida's 20th?

MANLEY: Yes, I agreed to drop out and get behind any one candidate if we all agreed on who that was. Everybody was sitting around waiting for somebody to decide who was going to drop out. And ultimately, at the end of the day, I submitted my paperwork because of timing and because it's important to show leadership. And so I was the first to qualify.

And I thought everyone would get out after I made a move, but people didn't do that.

BLACKWELL: And so now you've heard from the chair of the party there in Florida. What's your reaction to what she said? And are you satisfied with what she is doing in this race?

MANLEY: You know, I mean, I've spoken to Leader Fried and I want to thank her for speaking up on behalf of black Floridians. You know, what we're seeing all across Florida right now is a reaction from the black community to Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz's decision to incorporate back into Florida 20. This is a seat that was created forcibly in 1992 to protect Black representation. It had to be forcibly created because we've seen 116 years without a black representative from Florida.

And Alcee Hastings took that in 1993. And now we see someone from Weston who doesn't live in the district carpet bagging into our district. We need somebody with our lived experiences, our shared lived experiences to represent this district. But we also need somebody focused on the issues of affordability.

And that's what I'm doing in Florida. I've knocked on tens of thousands of doors in this district. And what I'm hearing from people, they're upset at the division that this has caused and the impact that it will cause to the Florida Democratic Party in the midterms.

BLACKWELL: And so you call it carpet banging. Let's hear from Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, currently representing the 25th district, now running in the 20th. Here's what she told NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, (D-FL): This is a majority minority district, just like the one that I represent now. This district, I represent a district now that is 42 percent Hispanic and 18 percent black, and the rest non-Hispanic white another. This district is 42 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic.

So I have represented a majority minority district for years. I know how to stand up for, fight for, and represent diverse communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: And so what's your reaction to that?

MANLEY: You know, the congresswoman can create any excuse that she wants, but at the end of the day, she did not engage in meaningful dialogue with the community before she decided to run. She ignored the Legislative Black Caucus in this chair. She ignored all the black elected leaders, which is why she has no endorsement from any one of them. She ignored community leaders to party like Chair Fried said, she ignored all of that dialogue.

And now she's pretending like she had those conversations with the community. The fact of the matter is this is a district that is 51 percent black in the primary electorate. In her former district, it was majority white in the primary electorate. And so, she's playing games with the words here.

But the fact of the matter is, the people here need real leadership, they need people who know this community that know this district. And I don't think she's going to secede here. I think regardless of how many candidates may be in a race, I think at the end of the day, people are going to look at the field and select who they believe is best able to represent them, to fight for affordability, to bring housing costs down, to create jobs. And that is not Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

[08:20:18]

BLACKWELL: Elijah Manley, I thank you so much for being part of the conversation, and we did reach out again to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for an interview. They did not reply. The invitation is open to hear from her to join us here on an upcoming Saturday.

Coming up, Happy Juneteenth. Congratulations. The holiday is days away, and I don't think there's a consensus on how to greet each other, how to celebrate this now national holiday. So I've got a group of Juneteenth experts here to talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:13]

BLACKWELL: I've been having this conversation with some of my friends, and I want to get your thoughts on one of the takes at the table. That Juneteenth isn't a true national American holiday until it's commercialized. It's controversial sales merch, all that. It doesn't seem like how anyone has figured out how to do this yet, how to celebrate the holiday.

Like, do you remember the backlash at a Kroger in Atlanta that they got last year when they tried to sell Juneteenth cakes? The decoration said free. Free at last, June 19, free. And simply the word congratulations.

Well, on that angle, I followed up with Kroger to see what was planned for this year. They sent me these images. Okay.

A mix of cakes with some Juneteenth decals, Pan-African colors. Kroger says, as with any holiday offering, stores can decide if they want to make the products, and shoppers can ask for them. But I've been wondering for a while now, should we be treating Juneteenth like the Fourth of July or like Memorial Day? I've got a great group of people here to weigh in.

Jarred Howard is the CEO of the National Juneteenth Museum. Blair L.M. Kelly is a president director of the National Humanities Center. She's also the author of a new book, "Black Freedom, A Visual History of Juneteenth and Emancipation Days." And Michael Harriot is the founder of Contraband Camp on Substack, and he's the author of "Black AF History, the Un-Whitewashed Story of America."

All of you, welcome to the conversation. And, Jarred, let me start with you on that question. Is it like Memorial Day or is it the 4th of July?

JARRED HOWARD, CEO, NATIONAL JUNETEENTH MUSEUM: It is neither, quite frankly, in Texas. I'm from Texas. What's important to us is that Juneteenth is celebrated. We don't particularly care how it's celebrated.

It's so new to America, and so it's still being defined. But in Texas, you might find a group that celebrates with the red watermelon here, another group that celebrates with the yellow watermelon here. We're indifferent to how it's celebrated. We just want to make sure it gets celebrated.

BLACKWELL: Blair, your book, and you were kind enough to send a copy of it filled with these beautiful images of how the holiday has been celebrated. How does that inform as this is now a national holiday, how we should approach it going forward for an entire country as diverse as the U.S.

BLAIR L.M. KELLEY, PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HUMANITIES CENTER: I think it's a reminder that the Texans led the way on the conversation around freedom celebration, but that all black Americans celebrated their freedom when it happened in real time. And so what's powerful is that Juneteenth and making it a national holiday draws us back to that longer history, that richer history, and the ways that African Americans have defined freedom for the entire country.

We didn't have a clear definition of citizenship and freedom of until black Americans pushed the question after their emancipation. They were pushing the country toward thinking about all these rights that we all now take for granted.

BLACKWELL: Michael, let me play for you something part of a conversation with Ms. Opal Lee that I had a couple of years ago ahead of Juneteenth. She is known as the grandmother. Juneteenth walked 1400 miles to make it a national holiday. Here's what she said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPAL LEE, GRANDMOTHER OF JUNETEENTH: There's a Fourth of July which freed the land, and I felt like Juneteenth would free the people. Juneteenth is for everybody, for not just a Texas thing and not just a black thing. It's Freedom for all of us.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLACKWELL: Not just the Texas thing, not just the black thing. We've

been having this conversation in the context of black people celebrating the holiday. Is that a idealistic view of it, or can this actually be a national holiday that has white people, Asian Americans celebrating this holiday?

MICHAEL HARRIOT, WINTER, "CONTRABAND CAMP" ON SUBSTACK: Yes, I think it can. I mean, I've gone to fireworks celebrations for the Fourth of July, and none of my people were free then. And we celebrate many holidays that are specific to a certain group. I mean, think the Fourth of July was specific to white people, right?

And we don't have this conversation about the Fourth of July. And Juneteenth, again, is a holiday that celebrates freedom in America for all people, right? Black people didn't get a thing that white people didn't get. They got absolute equality is what the proclamation said, right?

And so I don't think it's specific to black people or exclusive of white people, right? I think that it's a holiday that we celebrate America living up to its kind of living up to its true promise. But I think that black people automatically have an endearing connection to the holiday, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[08:30:05]

And I also take issue with the fact that it hasn't been commercialized yet because you know, we saw the Juneteenth ice cream, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Yes.

HARRIOT: Don't forget about the Juneteenth ice cream.

BLACKWELL: But that's the thing is that people don't want to get it wrong. And I feel like that there are people who are. And I'm not saying white people, I'm saying there are a lot of people who are respectfully tiptoeing around the holiday because they don't want to do the Juneteenth ice cream, they don't want to do the cookie cake. That's wrong. They don't want to make a mistake. So they are just abstaining from it.

KELLEY: So makes me think about the King holiday. Right. It could just be black Americans who are thinking about our civil rights icon. But all kinds of Americans come to the table to volunteer, to meet, to learn, to dive into the history. Because King is an example of a great American. These are great Americans who were freed on June 19th in 1865. They changed what's possible for all of us. We should think of it in those same terms.

HARRIOT: And it's similar to a day like for instance, Italian Americans celebrate Columbus Day a little bit more than everybody else. But we all get the day off and we all celebrate. Right. We throw some meat on the grill. And I think that Juneteenth is like that. Like I am not afraid to, you know, barbecue on Columbus Day --

BLACKWELL: Yes. HARRIOT: -- or you know, shoot fireworks on the Fourth of July. But we celebrated a little bit more.

BLACKWELL: And so let me ask you a practical question here. Is it appropriate, are the people at the table fine with the Juneteenth celebration in Burlington, Vermont or Butte, Montana, that doesn't have any black people there?

HOWARD: Yes. So let's talk about the origin of the holiday. Right. The bill was co-written by the late great Chile Jackson Lee and John Cornyn, both of Texas. Right. John Cornyn, a conservative Republican. Sheila Jackson Lee being who Sheila Jackson Lee was. Right.

So the very origin of the holiday was a collaborative effort between black people and white people. So the spirit of the celebration ought to be the same. The fact of the matter is there aren't many African American people in that part of Vermont. So you wouldn't organically see black people at a celebration for Juneteenth in that part of Vermont.

So it should be for everybody. Certainly about the story of Juneteenth.

HARRIOT: Right. But People in California celebrate the Fourth of July. And California wasn't a state in 1776. I think the point of making it a national holiday is for everyone to commemorate an important event that is important to everyone in this country. Right.

Again, we didn't have a definition of American until after this holiday, after emancipation and the same as the Fourth of July, really. Like, we were actually founded on the 2nd of July. And that's when John Adams started we were going to be celebrating. Right. So we don't have everybody.

BLACKWELL: But let me ask you this. On the question of commercialization, which was the hottest part of the conversation, Memorial Day, which was founded to honor those who gave their lives in war, for many people is the unofficial start of summer. It's beaches, it's barbecues, and the best time to get a deal on a mattress.

HARRIOT: Right.

BLACKWELL: And so do you want that for Juneteenth to pick a major American holiday that we all celebrate that does not get that treatment?

HARRIOT: I mean, we're sitting here having this conversation in a state that also celebrates Confederate Memorial Day. Right. Like, you can't celebrate the, I mean, it's an American holiday. I would argue that it is the real Independence Day, because, I mean, if you got it -- what Confederate Memorial Day is essentially commemorating a divorce. And you can't celebrate the old day you got married after you got a divorce. So this is the day that America became a union again. Right. And to me, I think everyone can celebrate that.

BLACKWELL: Yes. HOWARD: You, quite frankly, it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Because, frankly, reality is if we don't celebrate it, you're going to be questioned. Right. In the corporate sector, if you don't recognize it, then if you do there really is no right answer there, Victor, quite frankly.

KELLEY: But it starts new conversations.

HOWARD: That's right.

KELLEY: And puts people at the table who would not normally be thinking about these things. And at a moment when we really do need to think about our rights and our freedoms, it's important to do.

BLACKWELL: Well, I thank you all for coming in for the conversation. Jarred, Blair, Michael, as we now go to the -- I believe it's the fifth since it became a national holiday, and we understand and learn how to celebrate this as a nation.

All right, coming up, why a shift in the political and funding environment is being blamed for putting at risk the International African American museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:39:22]

BLACKWELL: This headline worried a lot of people. News that the International African American Museum in Charleston would be furloughing all its staff. It's staying open, but the development was jarring, including to me. I got to know the museum when I visited their center for family history.

You might remember this story. They helped me trace my family back to the early 18th century. This was an emotional, very meaningful experience. And I know others have had similar moments there.

In their initial statement announcing the furloughs, the museum mentioned a shift in political and funding environment.

[08:40:00]

So we reached out to the Museum's President and CEO to find out more. Dr. Tonya Matthews. And she says, this is not a story about furloughs. This is a story about resilience. This is a story about being relentless in the work, the kind of good work that may get you into good trouble.

She acknowledges, because of our mission, these are her words, and our scale, I am has been uniquely impacted. We have seen dramatic changes in federal funding and public funding, and subsequently, corporate and foundation funders have been pushed to orient themselves differently to institutions and missions like ours.

Again, her words. Here's some more of her explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TONYA MATTHEWS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM: With these headwinds, and I'll go ahead and say it out loud. We're talking about competing narratives of American history, or we're talking about DEI, or we're talking about certain cultures. Even the word inclusive, which is meant to signal that everyone is welcome, have become part of a conversation. And these were the words and ways that companies were really defining how they wanted to execute on their core values.

And so what we've seen is that even our most storied partners, who really have a strong history of understanding where and how and why they invest even they are having to think through different ways of pivoting through this new landscape of language.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, this is a temporary 20 day furlough that will be staggered across the rest of the year. I asked Dr. Matthews what this means after 2026.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: It is really impossible and potentially not spiritually and mentally healthy for me to try to read into the future. But what I will say is that the weight that the staff has agreed to bear, the weight that the staff will bear is part of a series of things that we're doing around belt tightening. And we had some priorities. Keep the team together, keep the museum open, and the path that we're on right now is going to do just that.

And as our community steps up, as folks are hearing about this conversation, as people are becoming members, as they're raising their hand, as they're coming to visit the museum again and again, all of those things combined together will take us through to the end of this year and into 2027 with our vision and clearly our mission intact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, of course, we'll keep an eye on this one. Meantime, to learn more about the museum, maybe support it, maybe Visit it, visit IAAMuseum.com.

All right, coming up, fight night at the White House. Is this weekend's UFC event a chance to grow the support or the sport? The political fight over black and Latino men, UFC Hall of Famer Sugar Rashad Evans is here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:47:04]

BLACKWELL: Tomorrow, weather permitting, there will be a cage fight at the White House. What a sentence. Fourteen fighters will brawl at the UFC Freedom 250 event. The fighters are excited. One poll suggests though, that most don't like where it will be held. A new Reuters Ipsos poll found that only 16 percent of Americans approve of it being held on the White House South Lawn. And one in five Americans considers themselves a mixed martial arts fan.

It's interesting to look at who is represented in that fandom. It's still overwhelmingly white men, but more and more black and Latino men are gaining interest in what is already a diverse sport. Here to share his unique perspective is retired MMA fighter and UFC Hall of Famer Sugar Rashad Evans. Rashad, thank you for being on obviously controversial partnership here.

We just read the Numbers of approval from this poll. You think this is a good thing? Why?

RASHAD EVANS, RETIRED MMA FIGHTER, UFC HALL OF FAMER: I think it's a good thing just based on the fact of where mixed martial arts started. You know, I started the sport 25 years ago, and at the time, you know, mixed martial artists at the time was called NHB. No holds bar. We weren't even allowed to train in karate gyms.

And to see us come from a place of being a band sport to now fighting on the highest level, once in a lifetime opportunity to fight at the White House is truly -- it's a glimpse and just a peek of just how far we've come as a sport. And there's not really many milestones when you reach a certain level of sport and of success.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

EVANS: But to be able to have this here at the White House is a true milestone for the sport in general.

BLACKWELL: And let me play for you. And this is UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell. He agrees this is good for UFC, and he says he would even fight on the card if invited. But I also want you to listen what else you had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYCE MITCHELL, UFC MIXED MARTIAL ARTIST: On the political side of things, not the UFC's business, that is, of course, they're going to say yes to it. But what I think personally is that our government is desecrating its role in society by entertaining sports.

Our government is to protect and serve the people and really should be as minimal as possible. And when you're -- when you're doing all of this stuff, hosting sporting events, it's really outside of what the goal of the government was intended to be, because our tax dollars and resources are funding this operation.

The government should never be hosting sporting events because there's more room for corruption. And we already have a corrupted government. And so that's my thoughts on it, is that the government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:50:00] BLACKWELL: Take the UFC business out of it. What do you think about that angle? Is it good for the government to be doing this on the White House lawn?

EVANS: You know, I can understand that perspective for sure, but I also understand another perspective, and that is, you know, the government is for the people. And, you know, this is a sport that got to where it's at because of the fan base. You know, the organization has done a lot to really put us in position, but the fighters and the fan base has really made this sport what it is.

And I feel like the White House and this administration just being able to tap into that is really just, you know, taking the temperature of what the people have been, you know, how do -- I would say, really invested into, you know.

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the evolution of the UFC, and I want to take everybody back to 2010 and your match against Quentin Jackson. This is -- I'm going to play the pay per view promo here. This is the first time that UFC main event was headlined by two black fighters. Let's go back 16 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UFC 114, Rampage-Evans, May 29. Check your local listings.

QUENTIN JACKSON, RETIRED UFC FIGHTER: You'll be some more black on black crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I think a lot of people remember that was controversial, that the promotion of that was It's going to be some black on black crime. And you were critical of him. You were critical of others kind of playing in a racial stereotypes. Has UFC evolved away from that?

EVANS: You know, I would think so. One thing about the UFC, the UFC is such a multicultural, you know, multicountry type of organization. It truly is a melting pot of sorts. You know, people from all over the world come and train in all over with each other, and it's a sharing of culture and of perspective.

So, I think we have changed a lot since then. When I first was in the UFC, there wasn't a lot of black people at all. And to see where it has come from then to where it is right now, it's a lot different.

BLACKWELL: Rashad Evans, I appreciate the conversation. We're going to see if the weather holds up for this tomorrow because Dana White said the only thing that can stop it is lightning. And there might be some lightning. There's certainly some in the forecast, so we'll see if it happens. Appreciate you.

All right. Anything can be a canvas, even a football jersey. You probably know Stella Jean from her work on Haiti's Olympic uniforms. Well, now she's got a special collection. Imagining what Haiti's World Cup jersey could look like as their original official kit gets rejected by FIFA. That's next.

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[08:57:38]

BLACKWELL: Tonight we're going to see something that has not happened in more than 50 years. Haiti competing at the World Cup. The team's jersey originally featured a reference to the Haitian War of independence in 1803. But FIFA has forced the team to change the design.

The organization thought it was too political. Renowned designer, Haitian Italian Stella Jean didn't design Haiti's official kit for the World Cup, but she did put her own collection together of Haiti inspired jerseys for Art is Life. We talked about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STELLA JEAN, HAITIAN-ITALIAN DESIGNER: I'm Stella Jean. I'm a fashion designer and I'm based in Italy. They are not the official uniforms. They are my tribute to the country because it comes back after 52 years on the World Cup.

When I say Haiti, instead of having the image of the tragedy, of the gray and black scenes, I want people to see the potential that we have. Everything that you see on the images are handmade and hand stitched. It's joyful, it's positive, with vibrant color and with a strong aesthetic. We have many problems, that's true.

But the only way out will be to show the world the positive part of this country. The culture, the beauty, his strength. With this uniform during the Olympics, we have few seconds, exactly 13 seconds to show the world that Haiti is so much more than the tragedy. We chose to depict one painting of a famous Haitian painter, Edouard Duval-Carrie, who represents Toussaint Louverture. Toussaint Louverture for us is one of the father of the country, of the independence. And remember, please, that Haiti is the first black republic in the world.

But the Olympic Committee sent us a mail just two weeks before the parade saying that it was against the rules of the Olympics to show an historical figure. We decided to paint over to Toussaint Louverture over the General. The Olympic Committee didn't create a problem.

[09:00:00]

They create an opportunity. So many people decide to choose for us to choose for the country. And right now you will find the Haitian uniform --