Business booms at anti-ICE Richmond bar after Libs of TikTok backlash
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The controversial shirt that's gotten national attention. Courtesy: Mac McCormack
Conservative account Libs of TikTok thrust a Richmond bar into the national spotlight this month, telling Virginians to avoid it over its expletive-filled posts "demonizing ICE" and "attacking Trump supporters."
Why it matters: Business has boomed since, McCormack's Irish Pub owner Mac McCormack tells Axios.
The big picture: The Shockoe Bottom pub has become a political flashpoint in the increasingly heated divide over immigration enforcement tactics, starting with the "F--- ICE" T-shirts it started selling late last year.
- The shirts also have "ANTIFASCIST AF" written within the anarchy symbol, something that's long been a part of the bar's logo.
- Then there's Mac's blunt online responses to one-star reviews and online critics, which have ranged from him writing "f--- you Sally!" to "you aren't very good at basketball."
- Those replies are partly what landed him on Libs of TikTok, a prominent X account with 4.6 million followers that's been central to fueling right-wing outrage online and sharing anti-LGBTQ content.
The more than 500 comments under the X post include some replies saying Mac is a "complete nut job now" and encouraging people to boycott his businesses.
- Mac tells Axios he "thought [the post] was pretty funny."
By the numbers: He received about 400 orders one night, shortly after the Libs' post featuring his shirt popped up on Fox News, he says.
- He's shipped nearly 9,000 total across the U.S. and as far as Japan and Australia.
- And in recent weeks, the pub's Instagram has grown from roughly 2,000 followers to over 27,000.
- Mac says last month, the Instagram — which regularly criticizes ICE and the Trump administration — logged over 50 million interactions.
Zoom in: This energy and the shirts — created because he was "disgusted by what I was seeing" — aren't a departure for the punk rock dive bar, which has been around for nearly 30 years, he says.
- But he's noticed the recent attention, which has included threats and harassment that he says doesn't bother him, has led to the pub being busier.
- Before the bar opens, "there's people waiting at our door, and a lot of them are my grandmother's age. They want to buy that super offensive T-shirt and wear it," he adds.
Zoom out: The Irish pub owner, who comes from a family of immigrants, is one of dozens of Richmond-area business owners who have spoken out against immigration enforcement tactics in the past year.
- And its Instagram — which has repeated its opposition to the proposed Hanover ICE facility and federal agents killing people in Minneapolis — has shown no signs of slowing down.
- "My problem is I feel like I don't have to put up with anyone's s---," read a picture he posted Tuesday night. "... and I don't."