A military-themed brewery in Norfolk, Virginia, is closing its doors and blaming a “local woke mob” for its inability to turn a profit.

A statement from Armed Forces Brewing CEO Alan Beal about the brewery’s closure said that the brewery’s “ability to profitably operate in Norfolk was severely affected by the local woke mob – a few individuals in the area who have no love for the traditional American values we hold as a company.”

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According to WHRO, Norfolk locals objected to Armed Forces Brewing when it relocated to the city from Annapolis, Maryland, on the promise of a $300,000 tax break from Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). More than 800 Norfolk citizens submitted comments opposing the bar’s planning and zoning permits in November 2023, citing the company’s misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ+ promotional material and its controversial spokesman and part-owner Robert O’Neill.

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O’Neill is a former Navy SEAL and frequent guest on conservative media. He claims to have personally killed Osama Bin Laden. In a 2023 Fox Business interview, O’Neill blasted the Navy for teaming with drag performer Harpy Daniels as recruitment ambassador.

He also reportedly suggested that LGBTQ+ people are “pedophiles” in a since-deleted social media post.

In 2020, he was banned from flying with Delta after refusing to wear a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August 2023, he was arrested in Texas after passing out in a hotel bar. According to the New York Post, O’Neill assaulted a hotel security guard who tried to help into his room, while also hurling a racist slur at him.

“This brewery very clearly doesn’t fit in with the values of our city,” Norfolk resident Berkley Ange told WHRO in 2023. “Robert O’Neill, the brewery’s ambassador, has been pretty clear that he promotes weapons and violence and has misogynistic, racist, homophobic and transphobic views.”

While Beal has gotten attention for his far-right views, his brewery was facing real financial problems independent of the actions of the “local woke mob.”

WHRO reports that Armed Forces Brewing was in deep financial distress well before it opened in Norfolk in 2023. Documents filed with the SEC earlier this month show that the company lost more than $900,000 in 2022, more than $2.4 million in 2023, and more than $1.7 million in the first half of 2024. Several other companies have also reportedly taken Armed Forces Brewing to court for unpaid debts dating back to October 2024.

In its SEC filing, the company wrote that it “cannot assure that it will have sufficient capital to finance its growth and business operations” and “is currently incurring operating deficits and debt that are expected to continue for the foreseeable future.”

“Really and truly it’s, in my opinion, not the left or the woke community that drove it into the ground. It was just bad management,” Norfolk media personality Alan Fabian told local ABC affiliate 13 News Now. “There’s people that were even involved initially, right from the grand opening who, like my company, who just weren’t paid.”

While Beal told the station that his bar would welcome LGBTQ+ patrons, locals worried that its far-right values would contribute to an environment that would be less safe for the local queer community.

“We have been challenged and dismayed to see Armed Forces Brewery coming into Norfolk and don’t feel that they are a business that will support our community or be a safe place for queer folks in Norfolk,” Jeff Ryder, president of the LGBTQ+ group Hampton Roads Pride, said in 2023.

Norfolk’s City Council approved Armed Forced Brewery’s permits, with one councilman saying that the market should “decide their fate.” 

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