I”m not the biggest Dropkick Murphys fan, but not often are shirts big news stories. Also not enough attention is made of genuine efforts to use USA made shirts versus BS’ing about it

Story related by the MeidasTouch on substack.

“… Ken Casey, the lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys, stopped his concert when he saw a man wearing a MAGA shirt in the front row of his concert. He challenged the man to bet and said if he won he would give him a shirt and $1,000. Casey noted that all Murphys’ concert tees were made in the USA, and bet the man that the Trump shirt he was wearing probably wasn’t. Event staffer checked his tag – and it was Made in Nicaragua.

… That was the safest bet on the planet to make for Casey that night.”

and a longer Newsweek story:

“The lead singer of the Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys challenged a man in a Make America Great Again (MAGA) shirt to whether it was made in the United States or not.

Ken Casey stopped his show in Clearwater, Florida, over the weekend when he spotted a man in the shirt near the front row. Casey said all of his band’s merchandise is made in the USA and bet him the shirt on his back and $100 if the man could prove his shirt was also made in America.

After getting the crowd involved to check the tags on the MAGA shirt, Casey announced to the crowd that the MAGA shirt was made in Nicaragua…

President Donald Trump‘s America First platform is predicated on bringing jobs back to the U.S. and placing tariffs on companies who pay for cheaper labor overseas, but Trump’s catchphrase is being printed on clothes made abroad…

Footage from the concert posted by Nick Klingensmith on TikTok and Instagram, shows Casey holding up a shirt from his tour saying to the man in the MAGA shirt: “Dropkick Murphys proudly sells Made in America merchandise only. And here’s the bet I’d like to make. If you lose the bet, we switch shirts, ok? If you win the bet, I give you 100 dollars and the shirt.”

He then gets someone else in the audience to check the tag on the shirt, and they yell out “Nicaragua!”

The video footage shows people cheering when the man had to take his MAGA shirt off.

Casey thanked the man in the shirt for being a good sport and gave him a Dropkick Murphys shirt.

Casey reiterated his feelings about the man when speaking to Newsweek about the event and said, “They were longtime fans who wanted to let us know they disagree with our politics, but they were respectful and after the concert the gentleman actually said, ‘Dropkicks are family and I don’t let politics come between family,’ which I was pleasantly surprised by.”

The video of this event has been viewed 351,000 times on TikTok, and 686,000 times on Instagram.

According to social media, the man who was singled out was not the only person in MAGA merchandise at the show, and some other people were wearing “thin-blue-line” pins and confederate flags.

Casey made it clear that the rumors on social media about the man getting kicked out by security are not true.

“I spoke with both of them afterwards while greeting fans in front of stage post show,” he said.

Casey added that he would not wear a MAGA shirt to his concert but “I say wear what you like, it’s still somewhat of a free country for now…wear a MAGA shirt, dye your hair purple…whatever makes you happy.”

Dropkick Murphys has always been outspokenly pro-union, anti-billionaire, and anti-Trump.

This is not the first time that Casey has criticized Trump and his supporters at his shows. In 2022, he told a crowd in Pennsylvania: “If you’re out there buying those f**king hats that these swindlers are selling at their fucking fair…then you’re part of the problem…You’re being duped by the greatest swindler in the history of the world.”

“You’re being duped by a bunch of grifters and billionaires who don’t give a shit about you or your family. They care about their fucking tax breaks and the money they can put in their pocket. If you consider yourself a patriot and you’re spouting off that election-denying shit, I will fight your ass outside if you want to. Wake the fuck up!”

Ken Casey told Newsweek: “It’s no secret Dropkick Murphys are extremely anti-MAGA, but that doesn’t mean I have animosity toward fellow Americans who I actually view as the victims. I think so many of these people who follow Trump have been sold a bundle of lies by a con artist. Just my opinion, but I’m sticking to it.”

Dropkick Murphys are currently on a nationwide tour until mid-August. They will likely continue to criticize the president, but whether people will still wear MAGA merchandise to their shows remains to be seen.”