Trump's $5,000 ad ran on UFC Paramount+ broadcast after judge's order, report says

A Trump ad offering voters $5,000 each if Republicans hold Congress ran on the UFC's Oct. 31 Paramount+ broadcast, Awful Announcing reported on Sunday. It ran in a picture-in-picture box during Julian Erosa vs. JeongYeong Lee, Drew Lerner wrote, a day after a federal judge ordered it pulled.

The airing is reported, not confirmed: it rests on that report and the fan posts it embeds. Two posts complain about how often Trump ads ran, but the number of airings isn't established. Neither Lerner's piece nor The Comeback's, which repeated it, carries a statement from the UFC or Paramount. Awful Announcing describes the ad as the administration's and calls these ads taxpayer-funded, but neither piece shows who bought this slot.

The order

On Friday, Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon in New York ordered three ads pulled, including "$5,000 to Americans," the AP reported. They had to come off government sites and social media. Placements through authorized third parties, including Trump's super PAC MAGA Inc., had to be cancelled.

Rochon found the ads were likely barred by a federal ban on using public money for publicity or propaganda. "Voters are being directly asked to support one political party over another in an upcoming election," she said, according to Newsweek. In the $5,000 ad, Trump says: "If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket." Budget analyst Marc Goldwein says that can't happen without Congress, the AP reported.

The White House says the ads are public service announcements like those of past administrations. Spokesperson Lauren Bis called the ruling "a lawless order." It's a temporary restraining order, not a final decision, and Trump isn't a defendant, the AP reported.

Who the order reaches

Late Friday, government lawyers asked Rochon to take MAGA Inc. out of the order, the AP reported. They said it isn't a party and the government doesn't control it. So that part was already under challenge on fight night.

Trump said on Oct. 5 he would fund the ads himself and with MAGA Inc. money. Common Cause, one of the plaintiffs, says the government certified that it served the order on MAGA Inc. It also says the government certified it has no arrangement with anyone to air the three ads, Newsweek reported. We haven't seen that filing.

Ads have run past an order in this case before. Rochon's first order, on Oct. 11, told the government to stop its taxpayer-funded ads, and two ran past the deadline, the Washington Post reported. The White House said DHS got notice too late, adding: "The PSAs will be paid for by outside groups moving forward." The plaintiffs said they "do not presently seek contempt sanctions."

We think everything here turns on who bought the slot and when. It could be taxpayer money, MAGA Inc. or another outside group. Until that's known, we can't say whether either order applied to this airing. In everything we read, no court, plaintiff or official has accused anyone over it.

The UFC and Paramount

Paramount+ carries the UFC under a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal. How much say it has over individual ads is unclear, Awful Announcing says. Broadcasters traditionally have little room to refuse political ads, the site adds, though it's unclear how far that reaches a streaming service.

In January, Paramount said ads for prelims and U.S. Fight Nights could be bought through a private programmatic marketplace. That doesn't show how this one was bought.

Luke Thomas earlier reported MAGA Inc. ads during commercial breaks of the UFC's Edmonton event. UFC CEO Dana White is a vocal Trump supporter, as Awful Announcing notes. The UFC staged its Freedom 250 card on the White House South Lawn on June 14, shown on Paramount+.

The fight was the fifth of seven prelims. Erosa, who said beforehand it would be his last fight, knocked Lee out at 1:31 of round one. He closed as a +120 underdog at DraftKings, a 44% chance.

What's next

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. We found no ruling on the MAGA Inc. request as of Sunday. Rochon also said she could restore the three ads or ban more after further evidence in the coming weeks.