A tall tale of woe in ad for Joe

A Michigan music-venue owner featured in a Joe Biden ad campaign lamenting his struggles to survive during coronavirus restrictions is actually a wealthy tech investor who supported local lockdowns, according to reports.

Joe Malcoun (inset) is featured in the heart-tugging ad that aired during NFL games Sunday complaining about the chances of his Ann Arbor bar and music venue, the Blind Pig, surviving the pandemic.

“We don’t know how much longer we can survive not having any revenue,” he says in the ad. “This is the reality of Trump’s COVID response . . . This is Donald Trump’s economy.

“My only hope for my family and this business and my community is that Joe Biden wins this election,” he goes on, adding that it “makes me so angry.”

The ad suggests that Malcoun’s future and family are at risk, but makes no mention of his other businesses as a wealthy “angel investor.”

Malcoun admitted in a 2018 interview with ClickOnDetroit.com that he got his start thanks to a huge inheritance from his wife’s grandfather, a real-estate investor, saying it was “almost like winning the lottery.”

It soon made him “the go-to guy when it came to seeking investments,” ClickOnDetroit said, helping companies raise millions.

He was also called the “driving force of entrepreneurship in Ann Arbor” when he was profiled for the Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40” list.

Malcoun blamed Trump for the lockdowns, but had actually willingly closed the Blind Pig in June despite being allowed to stay open.

He told MLive at the time that he and his team tried “dipping our toe in the water” by opening up, but claimed he was more concerned about coronavirus safety than letting in customers.

“No matter what precautions we take . . . if we can’t communicate to the community the main intention of being safe, it’s not worth it,” he said in June.

“Now that we tried it and saw it’s really hard to communicate what it means to have a really socially distanced and live music show, we decided it’s not really worth trying.”

He said his management team would open only “based on what’s safe.”

“My sense is that it’s going to be a while,” said Malcoun, who has donated thousands of dollars to support Biden’s campaign, Fox News reported, citing local records.

Neither the Biden campaign nor Malcoun responded to Fox’s requests for comment.