‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Blame Ryan Reynolds, Sentient Veneers for ‘Rob Mac’ Name Change

The It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and creator formerly known as Rob McElhenney just finalized a strange rebrand that has his biggest fans wondering whether to direct their outrage toward his best friend or his dentist.

At this stage in his career, “Rob Mac,” as the writer, actor and entrepreneur insists on being called, is so much more than just the father and bodyguard of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Over the last two decades, Mac has gone from a working actor whose biggest claim to fame was being edited out of The Devil's Own to the head of an international entertainment empire, and his old moniker, which his Wrexham A.F.C. co-owner Ryan Reynolds once playfully mocked on Mac's birthday, simply doesn’t suit a multi-national magnate of Mac’s stature and chompers.

Last Thursday, Mac submitted the paperwork to legally change his name to “Rob Mac” after recently explaining that the name change is necessary because his international business partners and overseas fans had a hard time pronouncing his former surname. While Mac’s own family has publicly bristled against the rebrand, Kaitlin Olson's consternation is nothing compared to how Mac’s fans are handling the news:

In a Reddit thread about Mac’s name change from the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia subreddit, fans were lukewarm-to-hostile toward Mac’s new title, and they had ample suggestions on how to fix the perceived misstep. “He might as well change it to Ronald McDonald,” one user suggested.

“I love Rob for being basically single-handedly responsible for my sense of humor (for better or for worse) so I will never hate him, but why is he like this?” a fan asked.

Another snarked, “Surprised he didn’t change it to Rob Reynolds.”

It’s become a constant refrain in the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fandom to blame Mac’s close friend and business partner Reynolds any time the series creator does something that fans deem cringe or unfunny, but the “Rob Mac” news hit so close to home to the anti-Reynolds crowd that comments turned ugly fast. After all, it was Reynolds who first highlighted the trouble some fans have pronouncing McElhenney in a joking birthday video sent to his partner back in 2023, and McElhenney cited the duo’s planned expansion into Latin America for a second soccer team as a reason behind his switch to a more accessible moniker.

As for Mac’s preposterously white set of teeth, which many Always Sunny fans believe to be veneers, maybe the pronunciation problems Mac was having with his old name were his own — you try saying a four-syllable Irish name with a mouth full of pristine porcelain.