Calendargate

About

Calendargate or #Calendargate refers to the viral controversy and online debate over the Conservative Dad's Real Women of America 2024 Calendar, produced by Ultra Right Beer, which featured scantily-clad female conservative influencers. Debate over the appropriateness of the calendar sparked debate on the online right, with some calling it "demonic" and many figures chiming in about whether the calendar represented the movement's values.

Origin

Ultra Right Beer started selling the Conservative Dad's Real Women of America 2024 Calendar on December 7th, 2023, ahead of the Christmas holiday season.^[1] Ultra Right Beer is a beer company founded in the aftermath of the Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light Controversy, which led to a boycott of the brand over its partnership with a transgender person. Ultra Right Beer bills itself as an alternative to mainstream beer for conservatives "who know which bathroom to use."

Seth Weathers, the founder of Ultra Right Beer, told Fox that "We've reached incredibly stupid times when it's 'controversial' to say men can't be women… this calendar will serve as a reminder, men can never replace the beautiful women of America." ^[2] The calendar featured a variety of conservative female influencers such as Riley Gaines and Ashley St. Clair posing in lingerie and swimsuits (see examples below).

Spread

The calendar was criticized by some online conservative influencers from the religious side of the movement who interpreted its depiction of women as immoral. The online controversy appears to have started with the network around @RealBrysonGray, who posted to X / Twitter on Christmas Eve that the calendar was "demonic," received over 1,000 likes in four days.^[3] Josie the Redheaded Libertarian, the influencer who modeled for the month of November on the calendar, replied to Gray mockingly.

From there, the debate spread to several other corners of conservative discussion on X.^[4] Jenna Ellis, a conservative influencer and former attorney for Donald Trump, spoke out against the calendar and Josie the Redheaded Libertarian replied to Ellis's post with a counter-accusation, which received over 5,400 likes in less than a day (seen below).

Commentators like Anna Perez (seen below left) also spoke out against the calendar, referring to the men who bought it as "degenerate coomers" in a Christmas Eve post that earned almost 200 likes in four days.^[5] Others, like @KeenanPeachy, expressed discomfort with the sexualization of young women, earning almost 1,000 likes on December 26th (seen below right) as others pushed back.^[6] The anti-calendar argument also involved a kind of discomfort with influencer culture in the conservative movement, with various participants accusing one another of "grifting," engagement farming and stoking up the controversy artificially.

On December 27th, 2023, Jack Posobiec hosted a Space on X^[7] to discuss the Calendargate controversy with a group of other conservative commentators. Guests included Ashley St. Clair, who said she posed for the calendar imitating a Dylan Mulvaney photo shoot. The Space had over 20,600 listeners and lasted three and a half hours. The Space, which was overall pro-calendar, was criticized by some including @EvanAKilgore, who received almost 80 likes in one day on December 27th for criticizing it on X^[8](seen below).

George Santos weighed in on the Calendargate controversy in a Cameo apparently commissioned by Seth Weathers, the owner of Ultra Right Beer.^[9] The video, posted by Weathers to X, received almost 500 likes in less than a day on December 28th, 2023. George Santos, observed that "your company is having a major cultural moment, and who better (than me) to bring the tea and drama to a major conservative cultural moment." Santos then enthusiastically endorsed the calendar.

Search Interest

Various Examples

External References