The viral anti-MAGA guy on Fox News is from Charlotte — and he has merch now
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Screenshot: Fox News
Have you seen the Oct. 29 clip? The one where a guy compared a Trump rally to the 1978 Jonestown massacre while he was live on Fox News.
- "Wait, the Jonestown massacre?" Fox correspondent Lucas Tomlinson asked.
- "There's nothing like seeing a cult right up front, man," the interviewee responded.
- "Maybe this is not a Trump supporter," the reporter said before turning to another attendee.
- But not before the man got a plug in: "MadPark Designs," he said, pointing to his hat.
Why it matters: MadPark Designs is a Charlotte screen printer launched in 2018 that prints for local businesses, musicians and organizations, and creates some of its own graphics. And that guy in the video — Tom Hoyle — is the co-owner and a local.
- The clip of him at the Rock Hill Trump rally on Oct. 29 has 5.3 million views on Mother Jones' Instagram and 206K views on TMZ's TikTok. It's also been posted on countless other pages, and was continuing to rack up views as of Friday afternoon.
The latest: MadPark is now selling T-shirts for $28 with his now-viral quote and a skeleton graphic.
- "I think some people are going to dress up as Tom for Halloween," he told Axios.
Backstory: Hoyle said he planned to cause a commotion by yelling out as Trump was speaking, as protesters have done at other North Carolina campaign events.
- But before Trump got on stage, the Fox News reporter asked Hoyle for an interview. He later told Axios it was "divine intervention" and said he freestyled the cult comparison.
- Hoyle said the Secret Service came over and asked him to leave after the Fox interview. He wasn't even out of Rock Hill before his phone started lighting up with texts and calls from people viewing the clip, he added.
What's next: He said he's tossing ideas around for another shirt, but doesn't want to get ahead of himself.