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Cowboys receive backlash after launching partnership with controversial pro-gun coffee company

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.

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.

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.

A detail view of a Dallas Cowboys helmet
The Cowboys' partnership with Black Rifle Coffee comes just one day after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. (Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)