The far right thought he had found the ideal breakfast company. Then he took a big sip of Black Rifle Coffee and looked at the news.
The Black Rifle Coffee Company has been at the forefront of the emerging conservative coffee movement for years. Customers can start their day with a glass of “Thin Blue Line” Keurig or sip a pleasant mug of “Combat Cocoa”. This is not coffee for WIMPS and CIVILIANS, the company’s brand name means; this is the TACTICAL CAFINATION for Operators.
But even that branding wasn’t enough to save the BRCC from attacks by former far-right fans who accuse the company of improper fighting for refusing to support a teenager accused of killing Black Lives Matter protesters.
“All fights take place at night”: Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer urges Trump fans to “dust off” the gun
The BRCC problem began shortly after defendant murderer Kyle Rittenhouse was released from prison last week. Rittenhouse is accused of killing three people (two of them fatally) at a Black Lives Matter demonstration earlier this year in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The 17-year-old Rittenhouse has become the warrior’s far-right hero, especially for groups like the Proud Boys who openly desire violence against the left.
Shortly after sponsors paid Rittenhouse’s $ 2 million bail, he is the host of a conservative podcast whose partners tweeted a picture of Rittenhouse in a BRCC shirt with the BRCC. The image, along with the caption (“Kyle Rittenhouse drinks the best coffee in America”), led viewers to believe the BRCC was partnering with Rittenhouse.
That was not the case, the BRCC clarified over the weekend. Evan Hafer, the company’s CEO, stated in a video that the BRCC has not and will not sponsor Rittenhouse.
“We don’t profit from tragedies,” said the CEO of the gun-themed coffee company. “It’s not our goal to profit from this event. We are not interested in collecting a dollar from any of them. It is ethically inappropriate to do this or even formulate it [of profiting]. “
This would be the undisputed statement of virtually any other CEO. But apparently it doesn’t come from one of the leaders in the world of conservative coffee. Hafer’s statement triggered a hyper-caffeine-containing meltdown from parts of the right, making the BRCC a traitor.
Far-right Internet personalities such as blogger Cassandra Fairbanks have officially “rejected” the BRCC – taking a break on charges of censoring the left. Others accused the BRCC of only exploiting the right to profit.
“Civilians are just cash cows for you, so you and your veteran buddies can get rich,” a prominent white supermacist branch at Hafer slipped. The Pritten Boys, a far-right paramilitary group that fought Rittenhouse, accused the BRCC of trying to bring “gender-free college students” to market and photographed the BRCC logo to look as if it supported the Black Lives Matter (which is meant as an insult in the Proud Boys ’usage of words).
At Parler, a social media platform popular with the far right, alleged BRCC fans flooded the company’s site with insults. “It is boycotting these liberals and all the brands associated with them,” commented a user whose profile picture was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and looked like a Nazi.
“It turns out the black rifle coffee is in a deep state …” another former fan wrote on the BRCC Parler page. “My husband is angry … he said his election was stolen by the Democrats, then his coffee!”
“And you also have to change your name to LGBTQ snowflake coffee,” wrote a third. – I never drink your coffee.
Parler users were so outraged that they began looking for Hafer’s political input on the Federal Election Commission’s website, which turned out to have offered $ 500 to Tulsi Gabbard MP, a Hawaiian Democrat. (Gabbard, who served in a military service like Hafer, saw some support from far-right personalities during his 2020 presidential campaign.)
The accusations marked an impressive turnaround for the BRCC, which for years had seen itself as a coffee drink for conservative gun enthusiasts. “I want the people who voted for Trump to know that there are other options for you,” Hafer said in a 2017 interview. “[Starbucks’ then-CEO] Howard Schultz doesn’t want his business. I do. I’ll be proud to take it.
When Starbucks announced plans to admit 10,000 refugees in 2017, the BRCC shared a meme that photographed Starbucks cups for ISIS fighters. “Starbucks vows to hire 10,000 refugees,” read the meme, followed by a picture of U.S. troops labeled “Black Rifle Coffee Company Offering to Hire 10,000 Veterans”.
BRCC may have been the most popular conservative coffee brand – but it wasn’t the only one. Other right-wing coffee companies, including companies with similar military brands, started at about the same time, many in response to perceived liberalism by brands such as Starbucks.
At least two conservative cafes opened alone in February. One is named Covfefe Coffee and Gifts Trump in Maine. The other, Florida Conservative Grounds, includes an makeshift oval office with cardboard cutouts by Donald and Melania Trump. The owner of Conservative Grounds said washington post office the store was “a place where conservatives can feel happy,” and noted that the store had a sign that led to “cornfields,” labeled “liberal safe space, go here”.
Why is the Starbucks conservative brain melting?
The third right-wing coffee brand is now aimed at BRCC customers, advertising stickers calling for communists to be killed from helicopters and stains that mock the corpse of a man killed by Rittenhouse. The brand received approval from the Proud Boys after issuing a statement on Sunday praising Rittenhouse.
When a Twitter user accused the company of revealing “fascist views,” the brand’s report replied, “We never hid in our sweet faces.”
More information at The Daily Beast.
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