Black Rifle Coffee Company has found itself in a little bit of hot water with conservatives following social media posts that suggest the company or employees are donating to Democrat organizations.
The company has been accused of making political donations to leftist PACs who don’t necessarily support its pro-Second Amendment and right-leaning image.
Some conservative personalities on social media called for a boycott, even likening the company to Bud Light.
“Dear America” host Graham Allen has entered the debate and defended the company, suggesting those political donations came from employees of the company, not from front office types running the show.
“Do your own research and be better than the left!” he implores listeners.
“This is what a lie looks like,” Allen states, noting that screenshots of some of the donations which have raised the ire of the right clipped out the names of donors.
“If you think that Black Rifle, a company that has over 900 employees – I can tell you for a fact 98% of Black Rifle donates red.”
“But also, I can tell you this – you legally cannot dictate who an individual person donates to or votes to,” he adds. “Period.”
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Does Black Rifle Coffee Deserve A Boycott?
Allen makes a compelling argument. So The Political Insider took a look at donations from a particular Black Rifle Coffee Company top executive, founder and CEO Evan Hafer.
A vast majority of Hafer’s donations have gone to Republicans, though the Republicans are of the Dan Crenshaw variety. He did appear to make a small donation to Barack Obama in 2008 when he was a Department of Defense employee.
Overall, the company’s past political donations have been, as Allen states, overwhelmingly to Republicans.
Community Notes added a fact-check to the image being shared on social media that accuses Black Rifle Coffee of donating to Democrat causes, noting it is a snippet from a much larger database of employee contributions that show more varied efforts.
Another issue Black Rifle Coffee Company runs into involves their response to the Kyle Rittenhouse case. That case was a slam-dunk situation for those of a conservative temperament.
Rittenhouse was attacked by three men, some with serious criminal backgrounds, during a serious riot. The teenager turned the tables by exercising his right to self-defense instead.
But Black Rifle Coffee Company, in the eyes of right-leaning critics, distanced themselves from him instead. And some conservatives haven’t forgotten it.
“We’re not in the business of profiting from tragedy,” the CEO of the gun-themed coffee company said. “We’re not in the business of profiting from this event. We have zero interest in collecting one dollar from any of this. It is ethically inappropriate for us to do so, or even give the perception [of profiting].”
The company would later attempt to clarify their stance, but to some, the damage had been done.
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The Counterpoint
Prior to the online campaign to portray Black Rifle Coffee as a liberal company deserving of the Bud Light treatment, they were treated by most conservatives as sympathetic to their causes.
They rose to national prominence in 2017. At the time, BRC employed about 50 people, but pledged to hire 10,000 veterans. The move was meant to protest Starbucks’s vow to hire 10,000 refugees.
The company was founded by veterans and has a strong connection to the military community. In 2018 over half of its staff were former military.
Many of its products feature firearms and patriotic imagery, which appeals to a conservative audience.
The company has been endorsed by Fox News host Sean Hannity and Donald Trump Jr. They even, at one point, were hawking “Make Coffee Great Again” products.
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