A former U.S. Navy SEAL who says he shot Osama bin Laden is on the heart of a a lot totally different battle in Virginia, the place plans for a military-themed brewery are drawing opposition over his alleged racist and homophobic remarks.
Robert J. O’Neill has a small possession stake in Armed Forces Brewing Firm and has served as its model ambassador. His current social media criticism a few Navy sailor who performs as a drag queen and a police report alleging he used a racial slur are fueling efforts to cease the brewery from opening in military-friendly Norfolk.
The corporate, which markets itself with politically conservative advertisements, has dismissed claims of bigotry and toned down O’Neill’s public-facing function. However final month, Norfolk’s planning fee advisable the Metropolis Council deny permits for the deliberate taproom and distribution heart, which might be just a few miles (kilometers) from the nation’s largest Navy base.
The nonbinding 4-to-2 vote got here after practically 800 public feedback have been filed, a lot of which opposed the enterprise. The brewery additionally didn’t get the help of the native neighborhood affiliation, which serves the largely Black group of Park Place.
The Metropolis Council may vote as quickly as Tuesday on the brewery’s conditional use permits. The corporate has warned it’s going to sue if the applying is rejected.
In a letter to Norfolk’s lawyer, brewery lawyer Tim Anderson stated the planning fee’s vote was primarily based on the house owners’ political beliefs.
“What is 100% clear to me is that if my client was an activist brewery positively engaged in promoting LGBTQ ideas — the application would have sailed through planning,” Anderson stated.
In some methods, the matter resembles an inverse, if miniature, model of the uproar over Bud Mild sending a commemorative can to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Gross sales of the model plunged amid a conservative backlash, though Bud Mild’s mother or father Anheuser-Busch additionally angered supporters of transgender rights who believed the corporate later deserted Mulvaney.
Opponents say Armed Forces Brewing could be a manifestly dangerous match for the town of about 230,000 individuals on the Chesapeake Bay. They argue its possession doesn’t replicate the variety of the U.S. army, veterans or liberal-leaning Norfolk.
Robert Bracknell, an lawyer and former Marine, stated the corporate made no effort to win over surrounding neighborhoods whereas counting on conservative id politics for its branding. Group opposition isn’t anti-military however “anti-intolerance and anti-hate,” he stated.
“These guys are not the Navy,” stated Bracknell, who lives lower than 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the proposed taproom. “They’re a really small sliver of a veteran community that doesn’t represent the rest of us.”
Opponents cited O’Neill’s August arrest in Frisco, Texas, by which police stated he assaulted a resort safety officer whereas intoxicated and used a racial slur. O’Neill, who faces misdemeanor assault and public intoxication prices, later posted on the social media platform X, previously Twitter: “I categorically deny ever using this horrible language recently reported.”
In response to information that an active-duty sailor who moonlights as a drag queen was serving to Navy recruitment efforts, O’Neill posted on X in Could: “Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bull.”
O’Neill, who’s now a public speaker and podcaster, didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched via his web site, LinkedIn profile or Fb web page.
Brewery opponents additionally centered on shareholder and advisor Gretchen Smith. The Air Pressure veteran posted on X that Derek Chauvin, the previous Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, was harmless.
One other Smith publish cited the “Great Reset,” a conspiracy concept that the Anti-Defamation League stated can have antisemitic overtones, though she voiced help for Israel in different posts.
The corporate’s promotional movies additionally drew criticism. Some contain the firing of a lot of weapons. And a tongue-in-cheek advert for traders warned off anybody who has ever watched “The View” tv present or loves “taking your 5-year-old child to drag shows.”
In response to efforts to get remark from Smith, Armed Forces Brewing stated she was in a foreign country. However the firm stated in an e mail: “Gretchen is disliked by the vocal minority because she holds political views that tens of millions of conservative Americans hold — and which she has the First Amendment right to express on her personal social media.”
Planning commissioner Kim Sudderth voted in opposition to the brewery, citing reservations about antisemitism and violent hate speech.
“I’m genuinely concerned that you may not comply with city conditions and partner successfully with the community,” Sudderth stated at a gathering final month.
Alan Beal, Armed Forces Brewing’s CEO, instructed the fee that O’Neill and Smith aren’t a part of each day operations. Though O’Neill nonetheless sits on its board, he’s not the brewery’s director of army companies, Beal stated, noting that O’Neill just lately sought remedy in Mexico for post-traumatic stress.
“Despite the rumors that the opposition is spreading around town, no one is running around the brewing facility with AR-15s or guns and there’s no barbed wire up on the fence,” Beal instructed the fee final month. “The military is diverse. And yes, everyone is welcome at Armed Forces Brewing Company.”
In a promotional video, Beal stated the purpose is to brew beer for the army group whereas using veterans and supporting their causes.
Anderson, the brewery’s lawyer, instructed the planning fee that the enterprise must open for individuals to understand it’s not the “boogeyman.”
“This is not going to be some place that’s going to hold rallies against the LGBTQ community or anything distasteful,” Anderson stated. “Everything’s going to calm down.”
Jeff Ryder, president of Hampton Roads Pleasure, is skeptical. He stated the group will proceed elevating issues whereas making an attempt to ascertain a relationship with the brewery.
“But they haven’t really given me any indication they want that,” Ryder stated.