The Dallas Cowboys launched a new coffee sponsorship on Tuesday morning, and it’s not going well.
The timing of it was, well, about as poor as it possibly could have been.
The Cowboys launched a partnership with Black Rifle Coffee on Tuesday, which they now call “America’s Coffee.” As part of their Independence Day celebration, the team is giving away two tickets to a game this fall and a year subscription to Black Rifle Coffee.
🔊#CowboysNation, please welcome America’s Coffee to America’s Team.
We are celebrating America’s birthday all week long by giving away ✌️ tickets to a #DallasCowboys home game & a ☝️-year subscription to @blckriflecoffee! Click here https://t.co/hUQTRllFe0 to learn more.☕️🏈⭐️ pic.twitter.com/iFep5BKVZt
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) July 5, 2022
While that looks like a simple giveaway that teams across the sports world do all the time, many were offended by the partnership after looking at the coffee company in question.
Black Rifle Coffee offers roasts like the “AK-47 Espresso Blend,” the “Murdered Out Coffee Roast,” the “Gunship Roast” and the “Silencer Smooth Coffee Roast,” to name a few. They’ve also been connected with Kyle Rittenhouse — who was acquitted after shooting three men during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020 — and endorsed former President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban.
Considering how big of an issue gun violence is in the United States — and the fact that seven people were shot and killed after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, on Monday — the Cowboys drew plenty of backlash.
black rifle coffee is the starbucks of white nationalists:
• kyle rittenhouse wore their apparel
• they endorsed trump’s muslim ban
• several j6 participants wore their stuff https://t.co/fi0sN7KrpS
— mike taddow (@MikeTaddow) July 5, 2022
Cowboys are tone deaf with this marketing deal https://t.co/6DRNrRBQfq
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) July 5, 2022
just 18 hours after multiple mass shootings on Independence Day, and just weeks after a bunch of kids were shot to death at a school in your state, you’re partnering with this? pic.twitter.com/EVXrVLlilE
— kabir akhtar (@kabirakhtar) July 5, 2022
Nothing screams America’s Team more than partnering with a coffee company that has “thin blue line” “AK-47” “freedom fuel” and “murdered out” named coffee and has this as their header picture
I guess whatever boosts Jerruh’s bottom line is all that matters https://t.co/I8lkqL0qWJpic.twitter.com/ieZTU8Y5WE
— ‘Big’ Jim N. (@BigJimSports) July 5, 2022
The Cowboys declined to comment to The Associated Press.
“BRCC is proud to partner with the Dallas Cowboys, who are strongly committed to our mission of supporting veterans, first responders, and America’s men and women in uniform,” a Black Rifle spokesman said, via The Associated Press. “The long-planned announcement was timed to coincide with the Independence Day holiday — America’s Team. America’s Coffee. America’s Birthday.”
There have been 22 mass shootings in July in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. A few high profile mass shootings earlier this year, including one at a Buffalo supermarket and one at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, sparked a newfound push for gun control in the United States and led to the passing of a new bipartisan gun bill.
The Cowboys’ deal with Black Rifle Coffee comes about a month after the team donated $400,000 to help victims and survivors of the Uvalde elementary school shooting, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.
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