Conservatives are calling for a boycott of Black Rifle Coffee after discovering that some of its employees donated to left-wing causes.
In screenshots shared across X this week, users highlighted data from the Federal Election Commission detailing donations made by company employees between 2020 and 2022.
In one example, employees of the veteran-owned business, which rose to prominence due to its perceived pro-Second Amendment leanings, were found to have donated to the left-wing political action committee ActBlue.
Calls were quickly made by right-wing users on social media to boycott Black Rifle Coffee, just like conservatives did with Bud Light after the alcohol brand temporarily partnered with a transgender activist.
“You can’t be America First and donate to ActBlue,” user Tara Bull wrote. “Is it time to Bud Light Black Rifle Coffee Company?”
The screenshot had already been posted to the online forum The Donald in late 2022, but is once again circulating among conservatives.
Another prominent right-wing user known as The Patriot Voice similarly blasted the company for its employees’ donations.
“Just so you guys know, Black Rifle Coffee Co. @blckriflecoffee is a Communist front company posing as a Veteran friendly ‘Conservative’ brand,” the user wrote. “They have made many donations to ActBlue.”
The Patriot Voice went on to remind users of the controversy the company stirred after it said it had no plans to partner with Kyle Rittenhouse and profit off his case after the teenager shot three people at a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse’s actions were later ruled to be in self-defense.
“I always knew something was OFF when they didn’t get behind Kyle Rittenhouse,” The Patriot Voice added. “BE CAREFUL WHO YOU SUPPORT.”
Analysis by the Daily Dot of Open Secrets, a nonprofit website that allows anyone to view data such as campaign contributions, shows donations from the company’s employees to both left- and right-wing groups.
Black Rifle Coffee Company CEO Evan Hafer, for example, is shown to have donated almost entirely to right-wing candidates such as Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas). Aside from a donation to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, Hafer is shown to have donated to only one other Democrat. In 2020, he gave a $4,000 to Zach Iscol, a U.S. Marine veteran who ran as a Democrat in the 2021 New York City Comptroller election.
Other conservatives on X argued that they had long given up on the company in response to the fresh calls for a boycott.
“It’s amazing to me how long it took for people to realize that Black Rifle Coffee was not a Conservative company…” conservative activist Ryan Fournier said. “Those grifters were called out years ago for funding the Left.”
Conservatives now claim that the company is not only blocking their accounts on X but disabled comments on its posts.
“Black Rifle Coffee Company locked all of their comments. Typical leftist,” one user said.
A handful of right-wing users, however, argued that blaming the company for the donations of its employees was misleading.
“This screenshot is misleading it doesn’t say that Black Rifle Coffee is donating to Democrats but that some of its employees do,” the popular user @amuse wrote. “Most companies have employees of both parties. That being said not defending the company – they blocked me.”
Black Rifle Coffee has not responded to the uproar thus far. Given that the issue has been brought up in the past, it appears likely that the company may not respond at all.
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