Conor McGregor’s whiskey flushed down toilet in backlash over viral video

A bar in the US has refused to sell Conor McGregor’s Irish whiskey label after a video showing the fighter in an altercation in a Dublin pub went viral last week.

CCTV footage emerged online on Thursday 15 July, in which MMA fighter McGregor is seen offering patrons at a Dublin pub a measure of his whiskey. The star then appears to assault one of the men at the bar when he refuses the drink.

The video, first posted by TMZ Sports, has been widely shared on social media, attracting criticism from hospitality businesses, the MMA community, and fans.

Police in Ireland told TMZ they were investigating the incident, although no arrests had been made.

Speaking to the website, UFC president Dana White said: “This is a high-profile guy…The bottom line is when you’re not a regular guy, you’re a high-profile guy, and you’re a professional fighter, you can’t do it. That you can’t do.”

“When you’re Conor McGregor, you can’t do it.”

Responding to the The Shamrock’s social media team uploaded a video of its own to Facebook on Friday 16 August, where members of staff can be seen taking several bottles of Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey to the men’s restroom before pouring the contents down the toilet.

The bar said it would drop Proper No. Twelve from its drinks menu due to McGregor’s “recent cowardly and appalling behaviour,” in the text accompanying the video.

“Due to the recent cowardly and appalling behaviour 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,” it said.

“We will discard his whiskey in a fashion thats only fitting to his behaviour. I challenge every Irish bar owner to do the same! He is not a true representative of the Irish people.”

The post has so far attracted more than 201 comments, with Facebook users largely supporting the bar’s decision.

One commenter said the pub was “100% correct.”

“Se is sh**ing on the people who supported him at the beginning, f**k him after getting too big for his boots.”

Another said it is “so embarrassing having a total idiot like him representing us! I wish you could pour him down the toilet as well.”

A spokesperson for Proper No. Twelve has been contacted for comment.

Proper No. Twelve, produced by Eire Born Spirits, is a blended whiskey made by former Bushmills distiller David Elderman. McGregor is the majority shareholder, CEO and chairman of the brand.

The spirit was became hugely popular on its release last September, forcing Tesco stores in Ireland to ration customers to two bottles per purchase.

McGregor had initially tried to launch it under the name “Notorious” in 2016. He withdrew the trademark application in September 2018, after facing opposition from Ireland’s Carlow Brewing Company, which launched its own “Notorious Red IPA” with a trademark for the same name in 2016.