Here’s how ‘Gangster Mack’ was created
Not long after a TikTok video of Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale taking on a taunter during the World Series went viral, so did another image of the Houston furniture store icon.
That other image, with McIngvale wearing a black-andwhite bandana knotted around his forehead and three thick gold chains adorning his buttoned-up orange Astros jersey, also would become viral and catapult Landon McDonald into unexpected notoriety. The meme, viewed by thousands on social media, was almost instantly dubbed “Gangster Mack.”
McDonald, a graphic artist and law enforcement officer who lives in the Kingwood Porter area, said he was watching television when he saw the TikTok that captured McIngvale’s profanity-laced response to a Philadelphia Phillies fan who had criticized the Astros and Jose Altuve in particular.
“It immediately sparked this instant creativity, or light bulb in my head,” he said. “The first thing I thought was this dude (Mack) is a gangster.”
The encounter showed a different side of McIngvale, McDonald said, someone known for throwing wads of cash on
TV advertising and telling people he can save them money. This time, in McDonald’s mind, McIngvale exposed a different persona when he defended “the boys.”
“My thoughts immediately went to an image of Tupac with Mattress Mack,” he said.
He was at his in-laws’ home and took out his phone and began drawing, using a graphic design app. He wanted to capture the furniture mogul’s intensity.
“I don’t think anybody focused on what the other guys were saying because Mattress Mack’s passion was so much louder and more visceral. I was more like, ‘Oh, hell yeah, Mack!’ ” he said. “We’ve got our own gangster in town.”
McDonald posted the meme, and the next day when he got up, he saw that he had been bombarded with requests to use the image in posts. One alerted him that conservative radio talk show host Michael Berry on KTRH-AM was trying to figure out who made the graphic.
Berry and McDonald had already partnered on some projects with his graphics, and when he found out it was him, Berry called and said “Hey, we’ve gotta do something good with this.”
Berry spearheaded a campaign to get the meme printed on T-shirts to give away and hand out for free to local restaurants. Ultimately, Berry contacted McIngvale to tell him about the meme and that McDonald created it.
Things were rolling fast. KPRC-Channel 2 contacted McDonald, arranging a surprise introduction with McIngvale on air.
The meme gave McIngvale a chuckle.
“You know, I thought it was funny and different,” he said. “Very, very creative mostly, and anybody who can make me look good is a hell of a guy considering I’m an old fossil. Landon is a great guy, great talent, and I was thrilled to have him make that meme of an old ugly guy like me.”
Mack admitted that the encounter with the heckler wasn’t his finest hour, but he was appreciative of the meme.
Their meeting was special to McDonald.
“He said the coolest thing that touched me,” McDonald said. “He told me he has kids and grandkids. He said he had built this great empire and they had no interest in what he did. But as soon as the meme came out, Mack said they came to him like he was the coolest thing and they were telling all their friends and showing them.”
“That really made me feel good,” McDonald said.
He felt even more blessed when McIngvale invited him and his wife to watch Game 6 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park in his ground-level suite behind center field.
“We wore the shirts that Michael Berry had made and just walking through the metal detectors and the parking lot, everyone around us was going nuts about the graphic,” he said, with his wife telling them that her husband had created it.
“We were getting high-fives from the fans and some asking for autographs,” he said with a laugh. “It was a whirlwind experience.”
He said it was an emotional experience for him and the McIngvale family to watch the community icon throw out the first pitch of the game.
In his decade of work for Berry, McDonald said he’d never had anything happen to him like this and hadn’t expected the graphic to garner the level of attention.
“This is the first time one of them has ever taken off like this. I didn’t think anything of it. When I was creating the graphic, I just thought it was just some funny little thing,” he said.
Although he never copyrighted or patented the graphic, he doesn’t feel bad about losing out on potentially thousands of dollars.
“I think in my mind that I’ve been able to bring a lot of people together, and if businesses make some money off it, I’m fine with it. It’s given me better connections, so I’ll take those over making any on the meme,” he said.
He said he has been contacted by numerous businesses since to do artwork for them.
“There’s a wine company, jewelry company, and a hat company asking for work, and I’ll be doing a mural on the side of one of the buildings,” all compensated, he said.
“It’s opened a lot of doors,” he said.
In addition to his graphic design work, McDonald is also an investigator at Harris County Pct. 3 Constable’s Office. His interest in law enforcement began when he was a reporter fortThe Sentinel Newspapers in the Channelview area, where he liked the police ride-alongs.
He later worked at the Harris County Toll Road Authority while going through the police academy, he said. He’s been at the constable’s office for about seven years, commuting to work in the Barrett Station, Crosby and Huffman areas.
He helped design the agency’s website and patrol cars after Constable Sherman Eagleton came into office.
“Deputy McDonald is a very talented and creative individual,” Eagleton said. “We wanted to create a new, fresh and more professional appearance for the fleet, and he delivered.”