One of my colleagues has a theory: If you know the Rizzler, you might not have been surprised that Kamala Harris lost the presidential election. If the name Big Justice doesnt sound familiar, the results from the election may have been a total shock.Back in March, a Florida-based father-and-son duo named A.J. and Big Justice posted a TikTok expressing their enthusiasm for Costco Wholesale and its food court items. The pair as well as their extended universe of relatives and non-relatives, like the Rizzler have since become viral sensations, cementing their internet celebrity status with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.The Costco Guys, the Rizzler, and this whole kind of straight-bro-coded mediaverse is a stand-in for how siloed media consumption on the left has gotten, says Voxs senior politics reporter Christian Paz. As a result, Paz suggests, some progressives may have missed a bit of the political evolution the country was going through.It asks the question: Does the rise of the Costco Guys who are in no way explicitly political help explain a cultural landscape shaped by straight bros that presaged a Donald Trump win? Or is their presence on the internet something more innocuous, a throwback to the early days of YouTube when regular people would go viral and get airtime on Ellen? The answers are a little complicated. A history of the Costco Guys cinematic universe While they officially became viral sensations back in March, the Costco Guys celebrity has been years in the making. Originally from New Jersey, the familys patriarch, Andrew Befumo (a.k.a. A.J.), was a professional wrestler who went by the American Powerchild Eric Justice before he retired and went into mortgage lending. About a decade ago, he started a family YouTube channel, featuring his wife Erika, his daughter Ashley, and his son Eric (a.k.a. Big Justice), called All Befumod Up. The channel featured the sort of mundane if heartwarming content you might see on a slice-of-life reality show, like cooking meals, attending an Avengers screening, and singing Christmas songs. Since 2022, Befumo has mostly been making videos on TikTok (@a.j.befumo) with Eric who he nicknamed Big Justice after his wrestling persona with occasional appearances from Ashley and Erika, The Mother of Big Justice. Early videos show the father and son attending baseball games and reviewing local restaurants using their food review scale known as the boom meter. Delicious foods get a boom! Underwhelming or flat-out gross foods get a doom! which is rare.They also recorded themselves running regular errands, like going to retail chains, with an unusual amount of enthusiasm. However, its that level of excitement in depicting the suburban, middle-class experience thats part of their draw. While many famous vloggers are filming tropical vacations and helicopter rides, the Costco Guys treat a trip to Party City like a special occasion. These videos raked up hundreds of thousands of views and earned them some sponsorship deals. However, it wasnt until this past spring that their affinity for Costco would give them a ticket to internet stardom. On March 1, they posted their own version of the viral Were X, of course we Y trend about their love for the wholesale chain. Were Costco guys, says Big Justice at the beginning of the video. Of course we go shopping while eating a chicken bake. By July, they released a Beastie Boys-esque theme song, featuring Erika and Ashley, called We Bring the Boom that now has 14.4 million views. Since then, theyve incorporated Costco and their extremely limited food court menu into much of their content, having guests rate the stores double chunk chocolate cookie and come with them on shopping trips. Theyve released several remixes of We Bring the Boom, including a Christmas edition most recently. Ashley and Erika also emerged from the background of A.J. and Big Justices videos, creating their own page in October, @ashleyandmamajustice, where they mostly rank and review desserts. Despite how normal these guys seem, viewers still feel like theyre watching something off-kilter and idiosyncratic. They have a wide-eyed, unflinching gaze almost like theyre being held hostage and forced to read off a teleprompter when staring into the camera. While you could argue that their zeal is earnest, their mannerisms are unnatural and stilted. The rap songs are inarguably cringe. In the months since their initial virality, the Costco boys label has extended beyond the Befumo family to include some of their most frequent collaborators. Most notable among them is the Rizzler (a.k.a Christian Joseph), a kid influencer whose father began posting videos of him on TikTok in 2020. His father dubbed him the Rizzler, based on the slang term rizz thats short for charisma. Hes since popularized the rizz face, a half-serious-half-smirking look similar to the alt-right meme/pose known as the Chad face or more broadly the Gen Z Lip Sync Face. A.J. said in an interview that a TikTok of the Rizzler joking around while wearing an ill-fitting Black Panther costume led him to contact the Rizzlers father about collaborating. Other frequent guest stars include cousin Angelo, who may or may not actually be related to the Befumo family, and a TikTok dancer named Jersey Joe who posts videos dancing to Jersey Club music. Do the Costco Guys really belong to the bro internet?Since their rise to prominence, the Costco Guys have earned a questionable reputation on social media as alleged Trump supporters if not avatars for an increasingly MAGA-fied internet. The evidence is mostly superficial. They live in Florida. They spend much of their time in the big-box stores closely identified with the suburban American experience. Their logos and merch prominently feature the American flag. Theres a lot of stuff about their content that is seemingly Republican-coded, says EJ Dickson, senior culture writer at The Cut. The main one is that theyre part of a demographic of white men in a state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. The other aspect is the American flag imagery very early on in their career. Actually, when A.J. was working in the mortgage industry, he was making content in front of an American flag. Other examples are more eyebrow-raising. Their fanbase at least based on their accounts commenters leans heavily white and male; comments on one Costco Guys livestream featured rows upon rows of the N-word in all-caps. Logan Paul knows about them. Unlike Paul, though, the Befumo family has largely and intentionally avoided politics in their journey to fame. In an interview with internet reporter Taylor Lorenz, A.J. said that theyve been approached by presidential candidates to collaborate but that political content was not in their wheelhouse. Possible political affiliations aside, Dickson, who profiled A.J. and Big Justice for Rolling Stone in July, doesnt think this accounts for all of their popularity. I do think people genuinely enjoy seeing this guy and his kid just being goofy and making this incredibly silly content together, says Dickson. A lot of people think their content is charming in its way. She also argues that their videos may be more subversive than progressives online give them credit for: a father and son spending an immense amount of time together, showing each other affection and bonding over food. She compares them to bona fide right-wing personality Andrew Tate, who built his brand in the thrall of his domineering and withholding father. The fact that A.J. is monetizing time with his family has not gone without criticism. A behind-the-scenes video of A.J. sternly directing Big Justice in a video made the rounds in August and reinforced the assumption by some that hes a stage dad. Still, the image of fatherhood he promotes is adoring and hands-on. Even though [A.J.] performs masculinity with the way he looks and the workouts, hes kind of doing the opposite by virtue of just clowning around on camera and spending a lot of time with his kid, says Dickson. Regardless, the Costco Guys do ultimately exist in a lineage of influencers and celebrities that draw straight, white, right-leaning male fans. Several moments this year have shown, from the conservative appropriation of Sydney Sweeney to the overnight success of Hawk Tuah Girl, that its not totally up to public figures to decide who they appeal to.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: