The Scarlet Letter shirt
After voting to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October 2023, Rep. Nancy Mace appeared on television wearing a red 'A' shirt, saying she was being demonized. Late-night hosts mocked the choice: Seth Meyers covered it in 'A Closer Look,' and Stephen Colbert produced a doctored image completing the word while comparing her to 'less Hester Prynne, more Alvin Chipmunk.'
In the days following the October 3, 2023 vote to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in which Mace was one of eight Republicans who joined Democrats, Rep. Nancy Mace appeared on television wearing a red shirt emblazoned with the letter "A," telling viewers she was being demonized for her vote. According to HuffPost, the wardrobe choice drew widespread mockery from late-night television. Seth Meyers addressed it in his "A Closer Look" segment. Stephen Colbert, as reported by HuffPost, produced a doctored image completing the letter into a full word, and delivered the line: "less Hester Prynne, more Alvin Chipmunk." Mace has said the shirt was intentional and that she stood by her vote to oust McCarthy.
Seth Meyers, "A Closer Look":
Late Night with Seth Meyers, "A Closer Look" segment covering Rep. Nancy Mace's Scarlet Letter shirt, October 2023.
Sources & related coverage
Read next
November 17, 2025 · DispatchThe AI "poop" video
Hours after an emotional CNN appearance about Epstein-file victims, Rep. Nancy Mace posted an AI-generated video depicting herself as a fighter pilot dumping waste on a male figure, drawing widespread mockery for trying to "out-Trump Trump."
October 30, 2025 · DispatchThe Charleston airport meltdown
A police report described Rep. Nancy Mace's October 2025 outburst at Charleston International Airport as a 'spectacle'; reporting quoted her calling officers 'f***ing idiots' and 'f***ing incompetent.' A pro-Alan Wilson PAC ran an attack ad using the phrase 'She needs a therapist, not a promotion,' and CNN later released security footage of the incident.
April 20, 2025 · DispatchThe Ulta Beauty confrontation
Over Easter weekend 2025, Rep. Nancy Mace was filmed cursing at a gay small-business owner at an Ulta Beauty in Mt. Pleasant, SC, telling him 'f*** you' and calling him 'absolutely f***ing insane.' Mace posted her own video of the exchange, which reached approximately 7 million views; the constituent said he stood 6-10 feet away and simply asked about town halls.
November 21, 2024 · DispatchBooed at Georgetown
At a November 2024 internet policy summit at Georgetown, trans digital-rights activist Evan Greer (Fight for the Future) unfurled a Pride flag and confronted Rep. Nancy Mace over her anti-trans rhetoric; after Mace responded by misgendering Greer and making a crude remark, the crowd audibly booed. Clips of the exchange passed 1 million views.
August 30, 2026 · DispatchThe Babylon Bee turns the Mace tattoo bit into a video: matching ink with a sleeveless Speaker Johnson
Two days after it ran the joke as a fake news article, The Babylon Bee turned its Nancy Mace tattoo bit into a produced, roughly 24-second AI video, posted August 20, 2026. It imagines Mace and House Speaker Mike Johnson discovering they got the exact same arm tattoos, complete with an AI Johnson in a sleeveless dress shirt showing matching JUSTICE, roses, and saint ink. It is satire, AI-generated, and none of it happened, but it is a clean marker of how far Mace's viral tattoos have burrowed into the culture.
August 18, 2026 · Dispatch"Right to bear arms"
A screenshot-style meme turns Nancy Mace's "right to bear arms" line into a visual pun, pairing her bare tattooed arms with an edited version showing literal bear arms.