The 2016 'baby bird' drinking-game video

Photo above: the opening of the video, Mace downs a shot of liquor at the table, moments before the mouth-to-mouth pass. Still from the footage published by the Daily Mail, December 2024.

The footage was published as an exclusive by the Daily Mail in December 2024 and was picked up by FITSNews, LGBTQ Nation, and other outlets.

In the clip, Rep. Mace and three others play a drinking game commonly called "baby bird": one person takes a shot of liquor and passes it to the next by mouth. Mace downs the shot, then leans in and passes the liquor mouth-to-mouth to a female friend wearing a Trump T-shirt; the friend relays it the same way to a man, who passes it on before retching and vomiting on the floor. The Daily Mail reported the video was filmed while Mace was campaigning for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential bid.

A re-upload of the clip (Headline USA, Dec. 2024). The original was published by the Daily Mail; the official Daily Mail posts and additional copies are linked below.

Reached for comment by the Daily Mail, Mace did not dispute the video's authenticity. She told the outlet:

"This is why good people don't run for office."

Not the first time it surfaced. The video was posted to Twitter in November 2017 and became an issue during Mace's 2017 run for the South Carolina House, when her Democratic opponent, Cindy Boatwright, called her "immature" and unfit for office. The episode was covered at the time by Mace's hometown paper, the Post and Courier.

Why it resurfaced. The clip re-emerged in December 2024 as Mace was pushing a measure to bar transgender women from women's restrooms at the U.S. Capitol (see the McBride bathroom-bill incident). Coverage from LGBTQ Nation and NewsX set the video's same-sex, mouth-to-mouth liquor pass against her then-current anti-transgender measures.

Sources & related coverage