Staff Report
Apollo Beach received some international exposure recently after the owner of the Salty Shamrock Irish Pub went public with a protest of Irish fighter Conor McGregor’s “cowardly and appalling behavior.”
Sean Rice, a Northern Ireland native and owner of the Salty Shamrock, 6186 N. U.S. 41, was angered after seeing a TMZ video that appeared to show the former UFC champion sucker punch a man in a bar.
In response, Rice instructed his staff to pour bottles of McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve Whiskey down a pub toilet, showing live video of the protest online.
During the video, several employees filled the commode with the pub’s stock of the popular booze. In the video, Rice says, “That’s the lowlife there that we’ve all supported. All right, guys, get that in the toilet, because that’s where his whiskey belongs right now. … Proper Twelve, to hell with it. It will never be sold at this bar.”
On Aug. 16, Rice, a native of Omagh in County Tyrone, posted an “official notice” on Facebook, calling on other Irish bar owners to follow suit:
“Due to the recent cowardly and appalling behavior of the so-called Irish professional fighter Conor McGregor, the Salty Shamrock Irish Pub will no longer carry his product nor associate its business with his name. We will discard his whiskey in a fashion that’s only fitting to his behavior.”
Video of whiskey flushing went viral, with writeups in U.S. media such as the Washington Post, New York Post, and overseas in the Irish Mirror, Irish Times, the Sun, and other outlets.
Just the original video, posted on the Salty Shamrock’s Facebook page, has been shared more than 500,000 times, with about 400 shares.
Online reaction to the protest video spanned both sides of the pond.
“Thank you, Sean, for being on the right side of history,” one commenter wrote Facebook. “Nobody wants their children to look up to someone who shamefully attacks a defenseless elderly man.
Wrote another: “Never been to Florida (but) might just go now. Your new potential customer for Dublin!”
Another wrote: “The pub is really just promoting (McGregor). This will just make him more relevant. Maybe the pub owner is counting on a visit from old Conor now.”
McGregor, 31, who hasn’t fought a match since 2017, recently acknowledged that he was “in the wrong” and accepting “whatever comes my way” from the incident. He faces an assault charge.
Witnesses in the bar told the Sun that said McGregor had purchased a bottle of the whiskey and poured shots for patrons. The 50-year-old alleged victim refused McGregor’s offer to drink, offending the fighter and triggering the response.
McGregor launched Proper No. Twelve whiskey in 2018.
Here is the video posted on the pub’s Facebook page: