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Rob McElhenney is best known for playing Mac on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and he recently made the decision to adopt that character’s moniker as his legal last name. However, he had to go out of his way to defend that choice after it was greeted by some blowback—including criticism from his wife.
It’s hard to believe it’s been to 20 years since It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered and launched the careers of the quartet of largely unknown actors that comprised the members of The Gang it originally revolved around (Danny DeVito didn’t join until the second season—a fantastic addition that resulted from FX deciding the show needed a bigger name to help drum up some hype).
That squad included Rob McElhenney, who’s spent more than 15 seasons mastering the art of ocular patdowns, grappling with sexuality, and undergoing some dramatic physical transformations while portraying Mac.
The Philadelphia native has also expanded his horizons by teaming up with Ryan Reynolds to become the co-owner of Wrexham A.F.C., and he’s continued to expand his portfolio in that particular realm by securing a stake in the Alpine F1 outfit as well as two more soccer teams in the form of Mexico’s Club Necaxa and Colombia’s La Equidad.
During an interview with Variety in May, McElhenney said he’d opted to start referring to himself as “Rob Mac” after realizing the language barrier had exacerbated pronunciation issues involving his already crackjaw surname, and he recently decided to go out of his way to legally change his name to “Rob Mac.”
His wife, Kaitlin Olson (who portrays Dee on It’s Always Sunny) didn’t exactly give that move a glowing endorsement, saying, “The kids are really not happy about it, because they have that last name. And so do I, legally!”
She also gave him some flak for going “rogue” and allowing their children to be featured in the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series, saying they’d previously had an agreement to keep them out of the public eye until they were older.
The name change also attracted a fair amount of criticms online due to people who somewhat oddly asserted it only affirmed the widespread belief the actor has let his fame get to his head; many fans of It’s Always Sunny were rubbed the wrong way by the now-abandoned podcast where “Mac” and Dennis Howerton (who plays Dennis) caught flak for seeming out of touch and overly “Hollywood” after offering listeners a peek behind the curtain into their true personalities (Charlie Day largely dodged those accusation).
It appears The Artist Formerly Known as Rob McElhenney is very aware of the reactions his pivot garnered, as he posted a video on Monday where he defended the choice while noting his name has undergone plenty of changes during his family’s history.
I said what I said. pic.twitter.com/lvwKgTBBrx
— Rob McElhenney (@RMcElhenney) July 1, 2025
At the end of the day, I’m not sure why people really care about a change to what he noted was “mostly a stage name,” but I guess that’s just the world we live in.
Content shared from brobible.com.