John McEntee didn't set out to be one TikTok star with millions of followers who creates content mocking liberals, but it happened anyway when he used the platform to promote his dating app for conservatives.
“I think our message resonates because the country is so crazy, and we have a simple approach to, you know, calling out the craziness,” McEntee said. Fox News Digital.
McEntee is not your typical TikTok content creator as he worked as a personal assistant to former president trump and served as director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
“When it ended, we were thinking about what to do next. We knew alt-tech was getting big, right? There was the right-wing version of YouTube, the right-wing version of Twitter. But a friend of mine said, 'You have to the right-wing version of a dating app,' and we did,” McEntee said.
John McEntee often films his content over lunch, so whoever he's having dinner with can record the video. (John McEntee)
The Right Stuff, a dating app for conservatives, was born. But McEntee and his fellow co-founders needed to get the word out.
“When you're working at a startup, you have a limited budget. And we were thinking, 'Well, how do we get people to our page?' What kind of things are free and organic, but can get a lot of eyeballs? And of course TikTok stood out to us because there are 170 million people in this country,” he said.
“So we committed to doing it, you know, the TikTok way, trending and trying to jump on short video content that was going viral,” McEntee continued. “We took that opportunity to promote our business. We did a lot of different things content-wise, and what stood out was kind of this satire, political stuff, and we doubled down on that.”
Satirical political content emerged as McEntee's bread and butter. He posts regular content on The Right Stuff social media and has amassed 2.5 million followers on Tik Tokand 1.6 million Instagram. On both platforms, use the @DateRightStuff handle.
“I think sometimes in conservative media, the content gets a little stale, it gets a little boomer and people ignore it. What we wanted to do was make something that was easily shareable, that didn't turn people off. It's not bad. It's lively, but it's fun,” McEntee said.
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A video from earlier this year that has been viewed more than 20 million times shows McEntee eating fries inside a burger joint saying simply: “Call me old fashioned, but I'm glad my mom was a woman”.
Another video showed McEntee, who has no formal training as a comedian and played quarterback at the University of Connecticut, mocking the government for trying to ban TikTok when US citizens can't even afford groceries. Credit TikTok for allowing people with small followings to go viral, which contributed to the success of The Right Stuff's popular account.
McEntee, who said he is now recognized by fans every day, often draws criticism from the left and recently caused an uproar by joking about giving “fake Hollywood money” to the homeless. Last month, Rolling Stone described his content as “a 34-year-old single man spewing all kinds of right-wing reactionary platitudes” with “the vibe of a guy who's not quite out of his frat days “. The article suggested he could play a key role in government if Trump wins in November, but McEntee said he's focused on The Right Stuff.
“I just want to help the conservative movement in any way I can, so if that means going back into politics at some point, I probably will. That's not my goal right now,” McEntee said.
“What we want to do is make The Right Stuff the biggest conservative brand out there,” he added. “Conservatives often have trouble being cool and normal and mainstream. That's what we're trying to do … so we're using these mainstream platforms to reach a larger audience.”
Much of Right Stuff's content offers talking points to young conservatives, such as the widely viral rhetorical question it asked in March: “So if you smoke weed, you can be disqualified from the Olympics, but if you're a biological male and Take estrogen for a year, can you compete in weightlifting?”
McEntee's fans like to reply that he “never fails” when making political points. In another viral video he said that “the difference between the government and the thieves is that the thieves don't pretend to be helping you.”
Not all videos are political. A video that racked up more than five million views on TikTok alone showed McEntee grabbing mac and cheese to go with a filet mignon asking, “How am I supposed to lose weight when the best part of life is food?”
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John McEntee, seen here eating ice cream with a side of sprinkles for dipping, has made food a recurring character in his viral videos. (John McEntee)
Food has actually become a big part of McEntee's online schtick, but it was a bit of a happy accident.
“I love to eat, honestly. And so, every day we would go to lunch, and then when I'm at lunch time with someone, so it's easy to get someone to film,” he said.
“We just started doing it while we were having lunch because it was fun … then this started,” McEntee continued. “Now, when I make videos and I don't eat, people say, 'Yeah, yeah, that was fun, but where's the food?' You know, so it's become a part of it.”
As for The Right Stuff, McEntee has big plans for the dating app which launched in 2022 with funding from billionaire Peter Thiel.
“Eventually we want to bring to a friends version, like other apps have done: find conservative friends in your area. And then we want to make a business part of it, you know, find jobs, help conservative businesses. This is a long-term thing,” McEntee said.
“The way our social media component has taken off, it's made us rethink some things, and we might want to add a media angle to it, you know, like a Right Stuff Media and kind of double that down.” , added. . “We might as well make our videos a bit more informative, because people obviously like them.”
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