Controversial dating app The Right Stuff has released a bizarre video, announcing the launch of the conservative platform in September – and the internet is losing its collective mind.
The Peter Thiel-backed company is another example in a growing wave of right-wing tech companies designed to emulate more mainstream platforms.
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Just like many of its peers, The Right Stuff very much resembles preexisting platforms such as Tinder, Bumble and Hinge, but with a slight twist: it’s only for conservatives.
The Right Stuff first hit the news in January following a $1.5m seed round from Thiel. At the time, John McEntee, the former Trump political aide behind the company, said The Right Stuff aimed to launch in the summer.
However, the bizarre announcement video unveiled on August 10 suggests that conservative singles waiting to match with like-minded people may have to wait for at least another month.
Ryann McEnany, the younger sister of former Trump White House secretary Kayleigh McEnany, stars in the video and said that The Right Stuff will launch in September.
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By GlobalDataOver the course of two minutes, McEnany explains that the app is invite-only and free to use, at least for the basic package.
“And for my ladies, you’ll never have to pay as we all get premium subscriptions for simply inviting some friends,” she smiles and points to the camera. “Gentlemen, if you want access to premium, that’s on you.
“And by the way, those are the only two options: ladies and gentlemen. The Right Stuff is all about getting into the right dating pool with people who share the same values and beliefs as you.”.
Whilst explaining how to build the profile, McEnany adds that there would be “no pronouns necessary”.
Over the sound of some stock music-like beats, the viewer is then presented with a collage showcasing what supposed profiles could look like. The profiles are all of white people.
The collage also includes a picture of McEnany standing next to ousted former President Donald Trump.
The video also showcases how conservatives can create conversation starters by filling in different prompts. In one prompt shown in the video, it says “Alexa, change the…” to which fingers supposedly belonging to McEnany type in and finish the sentence with the word “president”.
“We’re sorry that you’ve had to endure years of bad dates and wasted time with people that don’t see the world our way, the right way,” she says.
The Right Stuff heckled on social media
The Twitterati descended upon the video within minutes of The Right Stuff posting it on the social media platform. Most of the people who commented on it did so in order to make fun of it.
“The normal dating apps thank you for removing this gene pool from their apps,” one Twitter user said.
“SNL could just copy and paste this with literally no edits,” another user commented.
A third user simply stated: “The Reich Stuff.”
One viewer noted that picture where McEnany was standing next to Trump.
“I’m confused why this ad features a photograph of an accused rapist and court-certified adulterer,” one Twitter user said. “Does that represent [the kind] of community you’re trying to build?”
Trump has been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape by at least 25 women since the 1970s, as reported by Business Insider. He has denied the accusations, labelling them as being politically motivated and a “total fabrication”.
Trump’s marriage to his first wife, Ivana Trump, fell apart when he began an affair with the model Marla Maples, which dominated the tabloids in the early 1990s. He later married Maples.
Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult performer Stormy Daniels have alleged that Trump has had affairs with both of them early in his marriage with his third wife Melania Trump.
Dating apps are big business
While it’s easy to make fun of The Right Stuff, the hammy video could be right in one way: it’s hard out there for right-wing singles.
That may sound odd, given the abundance of apps at their disposal. If you’re a right-winger looking for love, you can simply get an account on Tinder, OkCupid, Bumble, Hinge and members-only sites like Raya and The League, which was recently bought by Tinder-owner the Match Group.
The online dating industry is huge. The market was valued at $7.5bn in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.5% from 2022 to 2030, according to research from Grand View Research.
Contrary to popular belief, the pandemic actually proved a massive boost for the industry. With social restrictions shutting people off from the world around them, lonely singles turned to these apps to meet new people.
“It almost became a necessity for single people,” Lil Read, research analyst at GlobalData, recently told Verdict. “It was the only way you could meet new people. You couldn’t meet people in a bar, you couldn’t meet them at a social club or anything like that. Everyone was indoors with lots of free time.”
However, it seems like conservatives have gotten a raw deal: prospective partners increasingly shut off the conversation before they even get started by prompting Tories and Republicans to “swipe left”, as reported by Vox.
Similarly, Verdict has previously reported that people who state on their dating profile that they are vaccinated against Covid-19 or that they support Roe Vs Wade – both of which are opinions predominantly held by the left – tend to get more matches.
Bumble even introduced a tool in 2018 that enabled users to filter out potential matches that didn’t align with their political views.
The Right Stuff seemingly acknowledge this on its website, saying: “Other dating apps have gone woke. We bring people together with shared values and similar passions.”
So if other dating platforms aren’t interested in making this group feel welcomed, it makes sense that other companies step up to bat.
In fact, The Right Stuff isn’t even the first right-wing dating app to see the light.
Donald Daters was launched in 2018 to give Trump supporters rejected by liberal singles a place to meet. Righter was launched in December that year with an almost identical mission.
Conservative tech backlash
The Right Stuff, Donald Daters and Righter are arguably part of a wave of tech companies launched by conservatives after they’ve felt rejected by mainstream platforms.
Trump was kicked off Twitter for the role he allegedly played in the January 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill. Following his defenestration, the former president launched his own social media platform called TRUTH Social. The company has been struggling with hacks and outages.
TRUTH Social is part of a wider project called Trump Media and Telecom Group, which is positioning itself to rival Big Tech in a multi-pronged way. The new venture’s offerings will reportedly include social media platform, a subscription video-on-demand service to compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney, and services to rival AWS and Google Cloud.
The Right Stuff isn’t Thiel’s first conservative tech investment. He has also injected dosh int into the YouTube-like video-sharing app Rumble, which has become a hit with conservatives because it has looser content moderation rules, as Business Insider reported. Narya Capital also backed the YouTube clone.
GlobalData is the parent company of Verdict and its sister publications.
