Conservative TikTok creator explains appeal behind short, witty videos
John McEntee explained that social media allows conservative viewpoints to appeal to a younger audience in an engaging and funny way.
John McEntee didn’t set out to be a 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 kind of have a simple approach of, you know, calling out the craziness," McEntee told Fox News Digital.
McEntee isn’t the typical TikTok content creator, as he worked as a personal aide to former President Trump and served as the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
"When that came to an end, we were thinking about what to do next. We knew alternative 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 need to make the right-wing version of a dating app,’ and we did," McEntee said.
John McEntee often films his content over lunch, so that whoever he’s dining 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 on a startup, you have a limited budget. And we were thinking, ‘Well, how do we bring people to our page? What sort of things are free and organic, but can get a lot of eyes? And of course, TikTok stood out to us because there's 170 million people on it in this country," he said.
"So, we bought into doing it, you know, the TikTok way, making trends and, trying to hop on the short video content that was going viral," McEntee continued. "We tapped into that to promote our business. We did a lot of different things in terms of the content, and what stood out was sort of this satire, political stuff, and we just doubled down on that."
Satirical political content emerged as McEntee’s bread and butter. He posts regular content on The Right Stuff’s social media feeds and has amassed 2.5 million followers on TikTok, and 1.6 million on Instagram. On both platforms, he uses the handle @DateRightStuff.
"I think sometimes in conservative media, the content gets a little stale, it gets a little boomer and people kind of ignore it. What we wanted to do was make something that's easily shareable, that doesn't turn people off. It's not mean spirited, but it's fun," McEntee said.
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A video from earlier this year that was viewed over 20 million times features McEntee, eating a French fries inside a burger joint simply saying, "Call me old fashion, but I’m glad my mother was a woman."
Another video featured McEntee, who has no formal comedic training and played quarterback at the University of Connecticut, mocking the government for attempting to ban TikTok when U.S. citizens can’t even afford groceries. He credits TikTok for allowing people with small followings to go viral, which contributed to the success of The Right Stuff’s wildly popular account.
McEntee, who said he now gets recognized by fans on a daily basis, often receives criticism from the Left and recently caused a stir by joking about giving "fake Hollywood money" to homeless people. Last month, Rolling Stone described his content as "a single 34-year-old man smugly spouting all manner of reactionary right-wing platitudes" with "the vibe of a guy who hasn’t quite gotten over his frat-boy days." The article suggested he could have a key role in the government if Trump wins in November, but McEntee said he's focused on The Right Stuff.
"I just want to help the conservative movement anyway I can, so if that means getting back into politics at some point, I’ll probably do that. That’s not my focus right now," McEntee said.
"What we want to do is make The Right Stuff the biggest conservative brand out there," he added. "Conservatives oftentimes have trouble being cool and normal and mainstream. That’s what we’re trying to do … that’s why we use these mainstream platforms to reach a alrger audience."
Much of the Right Stuff content offers talking points to young conservatives, such as the widely viral rhetorical question he asked in March, "So, if you smoke pot, you can be disqualified from the Olympics, but if you’re a biological man and take estrogen for a year you can compete in weightlifting?"
McEntee’s fans like to reply that he "never misses" when making political points. In another viral video he said "the difference between the government and robbers is that robbers don’t pretend they’re helping you."
Not all the videos are political. One video that piled up over five million views on TikTok alone featured McEntee scooping out mac and cheese to accompany a filet mignon asking, "How am I supposed to lose weight when the best part about 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 reoccurring character in his viral videos. (John McEntee)
In fact, food has become a major part of McEntee’s online schtick, but it was somewhat of a happy accident.
"I just love eating, honestly. And so, every day we would go out to lunch, and then when I'm at lunch time with someone, so it's easy to get somebody to film," he said.
"We just started doing it while we were at lunch because it was funny… then that kind of took off," McEntee continued. "Now when I do videos and I don't eat, people are like, ‘Yeah, yeah, that was funny, but where's the food?’ You know, so it's just kind of become part of it."
As for The Right Stuff, McEntee has big plans for the dating app that launched in 2022 with funding from billionaire Peter Thiel.
"Eventually we want to lead into a friends version, like other apps have -- find conservative friends in your area. And then we want to do a business part of it, you know, find job postings, 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 a few things, and we might want to add a media angle to it, you know, like a Right Stuff Media and kind of double down on that," he added. "Maybe we make our videos a little more informative too, because people obviously like them."
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