Taylor Swift might be able to afford the tax increases promised by a Harris-Walz administration, but plenty of other celebrities are on President Donald Trump’s team due, at least in part, to his plans for the nation’s economy.
During a recent campaign event, NELK, a group of social media stars and entrepreneurs from Canada, took the stage to urge voters to give Trump another term in the White House.
The members of NELK, also known as the Nelk Boys, have been aligned with the MAGA movement for some time, sharing messages of support for Trump with their sizable online audience.
In addition to posting popular prank videos on YouTube, The Nation reported last year about some of the group’s other ventures:
NELK’s name is a combination of the first initial of each of the group’s four founders (Nick, Elliot, Lucas, and Kyle). Now based in Orange County, Calif., NELK is still headed by one of its original members, Kyle Forgeard, but also includes a multiracial, multiethnic cast consisting of Americans, Canadians, and even a gay Brazilian immigrant. Their videos of outlandish pranks and wild partying have generated around 1.3 billion views. Though YouTube demonetized them for “creating a widespread public health risk” after they threw a massive party in violation of Covid protocols, NELK is fine without the ad revenue; the group reportedly sold more than $70 million of their brand’s “Full Send” merchandise in 2021.
“Full Send” is also how NELK’s members describe their lifestyle. As Forgeard explained to The New York Times, “It started out meaning party hard, but now it’s evolved into, ‘Any activity you do, give it your absolute best’… you’re in the gym, you got to full send in the gym.”
NELK also created a hard seltzer brand called Happy Dad, and their NFT, MetaCard, sold out in a few minutes, generating $23 million for the group last year.
Whenever NELK launches Happy Dad in a new state, thousands of their fans eagerly line up at liquor stores to meet them. Even their friends benefit: When Los Angeles gym owner Bradley Martin, an influencer in his own right who appears frequently with the group, announced an protest against the Covid lockdown n LA, thousands showed up bearing signs such as “Big Lats Matter.”
Most influencers, being extraordinarily protective of their brands, avoid ties to wildly controversial figures like Donald Trump. NELK has gone in the other direction. The group has sold both Trump 2024 T-shirts and ones that declared “Biden Is a Half Sender.”
Their message to attendees at the recent Trump rally focused on issues such as a proposed tax on certain nicotine products.
End the 95% tax on Zyns pic.twitter.com/wlSKWyaATW
— Nelk Boys (@nelkboys) September 14, 2024
The NELK Boys come onto stage during Trump’s rally in Las Vegas to endorse Donald Trump,
"Governor Tim Walz put a 95% tax on Zyn, we gotta get that removed President Trump" 😭 pic.twitter.com/XvOoVHMg9R
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) September 14, 2024
Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸
Rally Las Vegas Nevada!
Trump invites Brice up to podium who has 44 MILLION people watching him, and the Canadian YouTuber Stars
“Nelk Boys”BRICE-
“WE NEED TRUMP BACK REALLY BAD… MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”THE NELK BOYS-
“WE NEED TRUMP BACK. AND WE NEED… pic.twitter.com/bZ2wzJoDzO— SANTINO (@MichaelSCollura) September 14, 2024
Here’s some previous NELK-Trump coverage:
Free Trump pic.twitter.com/EktjearfwD
— Nelk Boys (@nelkboys) May 30, 2024
While Trump and his supporters clearly appreciate the various celebrity endorsements his campaign has received, his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), put things in perspective in response to a question about Swift’s recent endorsement of Kamala Harris.
According to Politico:
“We admire Taylor Swift’s music, but I don’t think most Americans, whether they like her music, are fans of hers or not, are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans,” Vance said in an interview Wednesday with Fox’ Martha MacCallum, when asked how to get his message to women who care about what Taylor Swift thinks.
Vance added: “When grocery prices go up 20 percent, it hurts most Americans, it doesn’t hurt Taylor Swift. When housing prices become unaffordable it doesn’t affect Taylor Swift or any other billionaire. It does affect middle class Americans all over our country.”
In this 2022 clip, Trump discusses the interview he granted NELK, which was subsequently taken down by YouTube:
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