Dana White's ripping cancel culture, saying it's stopping people from being their true selves in public -- and he's using an interesting metaphor to make his point ... gay people.
The UFC CEO sat down with Shannon Sharpe for an episode of his "Club Shay Shay" podcast ... and, they dove into people getting "canceled" -- something White says doesn't scare him one bit.
Watch the clip ... Dana says he only cares about the opinion of a small group of people -- his family and loved ones -- and everything outside of that's just white noise. He then launches into a comparison that's raising eyebrows among some ... but ringing true for others.
He equates cancel culture these days with being gay in the 1980s. He points out gay people who came out during that period commonly had their lives destroyed, so they couldn't be who they were.
White says screw it, he's not interested in pretending for anyone ... adding people can accept him for who he is or not -- he doesn't really care.
It's a bit of a stretch ... but, it certainly sums up how Dana feels -- 'cause he reiterates how little he cares about public opinion when touching on the drunken altercation with his wife.
Remember ... Dana and his wife got into a drunken fight at a nightclub on New Year's Eve 2022 -- which another clubgoer caught on video. He later apologized for the incident, saying there was no excuse for his conduct.
Dana says he didn't need to get through the incident publicly ... just personally, with his wife and kids -- doubling down on how he's only worried about how his small inner circle perceives him.
FWIW ... all this jibes with what White told us when addressing the incident in its immediate aftermath -- so his opinion hasn't changed one bit.