Did Michelle Obama sue UFC fighter Josh Hokit after he called her ‘a man’?

In mid-June 2016, a rumor circulated online that former First Lady Michelle Obama sued UFC fighter Josh Hokit after he called her “a man” following a UFC fight at the White House on June 14, 2026.

Speaking after his bout, which formed part of the celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary, Hokit told podcaster Joe Rogan, “And lastly, Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?” 

One TikTok user who shared the claim wrote (archived), “Within less than 6 hours after Josh Hokit attacked Michelle Obama at a White House boxing event, she immediately responded in three shocking ways that made him widely ridiculed.” 

One response, according to the narration, was that Obama filed a defamation suit against the fighter.

@kikidailynews7 Within less than 6 hours after Josh Hokit attacked Michelle Obama at a White House boxing event, she immediately responded in three shocking ways that made him widely ridiculed#fyp #UFCFreedom250 #JoshHokit #MichelleObama ♬ original sound – KikiDailyNews

The rumor also circulated on Instagram (archived), while similar claims that spread on X and Facebook said Obama was considering suing Hokit but had not yet done so. Snopes readers contacted us asking about the alleged lawsuit.

There was no evidence Obama had sued Hokit at the time of publication. Searches of federal and district court records in Washington, D.C., where Hokit made the remark and Fresno, California, where the fighter reportedly lives, did not return evidence of such a lawsuit.

Online searches found no reputable news outlets reporting that Obama had sued Hokit (archived, archived, archived). Given Obama’s high profile and the prominence of the conspiracy theory about her gender identity, such a suit would have been hugely newsworthy, if real.

Videos that claimed Obama had already sued Hokit used unrelated footage of the former first lady, her husband — former President Barack Obama — and the UFC fighter. The creator of one early version of such footage marked it as containing content generated using artificial intelligence. 

Given the above, and because there was no verifiable evidence Obama had sued Hokit, we rated this claim false.

Snopes contacted the Office of Barack and Michelle Obama and the Obama Foundation to ask if they had or were considering suing Hokit. We also reached out to the fighter to ask if Obama had sued him. We await replies to our queries.

Our readers have asked about the baseless conspiracy theory that Michelle Obama is a man or a transgender woman since at least 2008. The claim became more mainstream in July 2014, when a video of late comedian Joan Rivers showed her calling Barack Obama gay and using a slur against transgender people in reference to Michelle Obama.

Since then, celebrities, media provocateurs and even some conservative politicians have helped fuel the claim, which has also dogged other women in the public eye.

As of this writing, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have filed a defamation lawsuit in Delaware against right-wing commentator Candace Owens over her repeated allegations that Brigitte Macron is a man.

That lawsuit had not been resolved by the time of publication. Owens moved to dismiss the suit, according to Delaware court filings.

It is unclear how successful Obama would be if she decided to sue Hokit over his comment. 

States differ slightly in their interpretation of defamation law. Generally, a plaintiff who sues a defendant for defamation must prove four things: that the defendant made a false statement about the plaintiff purporting to be fact, that the statement was published or communicated to a third person, that the defendant was at fault for the statement and that the statement caused damage to the plaintiff’s reputation.

According to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, defamation cases can be hard to win because the line between stating an opinion versus a fact can be vague. First Amendment rights also protect a wide range of speech.

For further reading, Snopes routinely investigates claims about Michelle Obama.

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