‘Stealing jobs’: Influencer Addison Rae sets off social media storm with appearance as UFC ‘presenter’

Social media celebrity Addison Rae triggered a monumental backlash with her appearance at UFC 264, where she posted images of herself supposedly working as a reporter only to be panned online.

“I studied broadcast journalism in college for 3 whole months to prepare for this moment,” wrote Rae to her following of 4.8 million on Twitter, sharing an image of herself with a UFC mic in hand in front of a board covered in the promotion’s logos.

The suggestion seemed to be that despite minimal training, Rae had somehow landed a job with the world’s biggest MMA promotion at its blockbuster event last week in Las Vegas headlined by Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

The post didn’t sit well with journalists and some social media users though, with the 20-year-old being blasted for “stealing jobs.”

“Stealing jobs from those more deserving, very classy,” wrote Twitter account Cryptic Incognito in a post which amassed more than 40,000 ‘likes’.

“The AUDACITY… do you know how many people who are more trained and qualified who have been studying this and putting their WHOLE life savings into college that you took this away from,” fumed another.  

“I have a friend who studied for SIX YEARS only to have this shoved in her face. Disgusting.”

“Some people work really hard for jobs like this. and she gets it because she is famous? This is so unfair, I’m so sorry to the people that have worked their ASS OFF to get into journalism!” read one response.

Another person wrote: “I went to journalism school for two years and interned (unpaid) for another 1.5 years after that. Never got hired on and had to switch careers. Thank you for this info.”

Amid the outrage, Rae later tweeted jokingly: “nvm [never mind] y’all got me fired.”

But according to US online outlet E!, the whole thing may merely have been a misunderstanding, with Rae never actually being formally hired by the UFC.

Instead, she simply did an interview with UFC lightweight star Poirier because they hail from the same home town in Louisiana. 

"She did one social activation for UFC where she interviewed Dustin because they're from the same town, Lafayette," E! quoted a source as saying.

"She's not, nor was she ever, a correspondent. She'll be at the fight tonight but just as a spectator. There were never any plans for her to have any further official responsibilities."

Rae made further light of her trip to watch the cage action in Vegas as she later shared an image of herself with a mocked-up bruised and battered face, along with the caption “Vegas – 1, Addison – 0.”

The social media sensation, who boasts more than 100 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, dropped out of Louisiana State University as she rose to fame and reportedly raked in $5 million between 2019 and 2020.

She has previously guest-starred on Keeping Up With The Kardashians and boasts a movie and singing career.

One woman supporting Rae was fellow social media sensation Paige Spiranac, best known for her busty golf demonstration videos.

“Don’t discredit all her hard work. UFC is smart to hire someone with millions of followers,” wrote Spiranac under Rae’s original tweet about her MMA gig.

It seems the UFC will move on without Rae among the reporting ranks – to the relief of some but the disappointment of others.