Black Rifle Coffee, a “company serving premium coffee to those who love America”, has been a favorite across the country. In the past year, however, it has become a hotspot for criticism and lies.
Last year, shortly after Kyle Rittenhouse was seen in a post-bail photo wearing Black Rifle Coffee t-shirt, founder and CEO Evan Hafer made it clear they did not want to be associated with Rittenhouse.
Elijah Schaffer, whose podcast was sponsored by Black Rifle Coffee, shared the photo with the caption “Kyle Rittenhouse drinks the best coffee in America”. He later deleted the post.
Hafer released a statement denying a relationship to Rittenhouse and said “We do not sponsor nor do we have a relationship with the 17-year-old facing charges in Kenosha, WI”.
Now that Rittenhouse has been acquitted of all charges, Black Rifle Coffee is being blasted for their silence.
Another issue comes from this summer, when Hafer sat for an interview with The New York Times and posed the company for a photoshoot. The company’s Executive Vice President Mat Best was also involved.
In the interview, Best said “You can’t let sections of your customers hijack your brand and say, ‘This is who you are.’…It’s like, no, no, we define that”.
Jason Zengerle, author of the NYT piece, claimed that Hafer’s Rittenhouse comments “allowed Black Rifle to draw a line in the sand”. “It’s like the worst of American society, and I got to flush the toilet of some of those people that kind of hijacked portions of the brand,” Hafer said.
‘I hate racist, Proud Boy-ish people. Like, I’ll pay them to leave my customer base. I would gladly chop all of those people out of my [expletive] customer database and pay them to get the [expletive] out’
Hafer to the nyt
In reference to the hate and harassment the company was receiving, Hafer said “These aren’t our customers”. “These are people that are making very illogical, irrational statements about the company that are misleading,” he added.
“I don’t participate in the daily dialogue of what’s happening, you know, in the fringe aspects of Twitter,” Hafer claimed. In 2018, Hafer and Best made a parody of political viewpoints called “Conservative Comes Out”.
The company also received hate for being part of a Drinkin’ Bros podcast where ex-member Dan Hollaway threatened to dox Alex Jones. Hollaway was joined by Black Rifle Coffee co-founder Jarred Taylor.
Other company members have been found donating money to Democrats.
National File revealed through Federal Election Commission (FEC) records that media manager Ayse Altunisik and VP of Information Technology Chris Omer donated to ActBlue.
ActBlue is an organization “that helps Democrat candidates and leftist organizations raise money online”. Donna Ng, an editor at the company’s online magazine, donated $500 to Biden’s presidential campaign. David Rhee, a senior financial analyst at Black Rifle Coffee also donated money to ActBlue.