Meghan McCain has once again entered the chat.
McCain, the outspoken daughter of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, weighed in on comedian Nate Bargatze’s MAGA-coded controversy.
Earlier this month, the Daily Beast revealed that Bargatze, America’s top-selling comedian, was rubbing elbows with Trumpworld at Donald Trump’s UFC event on the president’s 80th birthday.
Apparently, while Bargatze’s fans were outraged after a photo of him with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. circulated online, McCain was ahead of the curve.
“Respectfully, who is shocked Nate Bargatze is conservative,” McCain, 41, shared with her nearly 860,000 X followers on Tuesday.
In fact, many people appear to be shocked, especially given that Bargatze has attempted to remain politically neutral throughout his career.
Bargatze, for his part, did not post about his plans to attend UFC Freedom 250 on the White House’s South Lawn beforehand and has remained quiet on social media since. Unrelated posts from the comedian have been flooded with comments from fans saying they plan to boycott upcoming shows for which they had already purchased tickets.
“It’s a problem that you didn’t think that appearance would be problematic,” wrote one commenter on his latest Instagram post.
Celebrities have also chimed in, including fellow comedian W. Kamau Bell. In a Substack essay published Monday, Bell, 53, called out Bargatze and several other “nice white guy” celebrities in a post titled “It Is So Easy To Not Do This,” laying out a suggested set of rules for those who are “confused when they are judged for their own actions.”
“The easiest way to not be photographed with fascists is to not go to places where fascists coagulate,” Bell wrote, including two photos of Bargatze, 47, at the White House UFC cage fights. “If you do go to a place where fascists are coagulating, then you had better have a good reason... like a John Brown/Inglorious Basterds good reason.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Bargatze’s team for comment.
In response, another MAGA-coded Megan had a fiery take. Daily Wire journalist Megan Basham shared a Variety article about Bell’s essay on X and subsequently slammed the publication as “jealous.”
“Variety wrote this whole article because some dude I’ve never heard of (and is probably jealous of Bargatze’s success) wrote a blog post complaining. That’s it. They made this whole article out of one guy,” she wrote.
“That’s how mad they are that Nate Bargatze became famous without their help.”
It’s not clear why Variety would be mad at Bargatze, given that the publication has, in the past, appeared to have exclusive access to the comedian and his team. Last year, Variety Australia was the first publication to report that the comedian would host the 2025 Emmys.
“It’s a huge honor to be asked to host such an iconic awards show and I’m beyond excited to work with CBS to create a night that can be enjoyed by families around the world,” Bargatze told the publication at the time.
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