Virgin Islands Podcast Explodes With Viewership As Younger Generations Move To More Modern Media Platforms

The Cigar Room: A Virgin Islands Podcast has captivated the internet in the Caribbean and beyond as its third episode has generated over one million video views on its Facebook platform, easily one of the largest launches ever for a podcast episode originating in the Lesser Antilles Archipelago.

The viewership figures, compiled by Facebook Professional Dashboard, indicate the podcast has also received 3.7 million total content views over the past 28 days which includes reels, posts, stories and full episodes.

The podcast - which features panelists Cosric Aaron, Mac McClafferty, Sunil Sharma and Edwin Hawkins, Esq. - centers around a group of friends and local Virgin Islanders who share a common love of premium cigars and liquors, while discussing heavily-charged local and national political issues.

Edwin Hawkins, a former attorney in Louisiana for rapper Master P and his No Limit Records label, believes the success of the podcast comes from its diversity of panelists.

“We all bring a unique perspective to the table because we all come from very different ethnic backgrounds and upbringings which shape our world views,” says Hawkins.

Mac McClafferty, who owns a restaurant with fellow panelist Sunil Sharma on the Island of St. Thomas, says he has been on and off the island since he was eleven years old, but was born and raised in the State of Ohio. McClafferty served as an elected official, as a city planning commissioner, a state workforce development board member and as a private sector lobbyist in Ohio for over a decade before moving to the Virgin Islands permanently in 2020.

“We don't agree on a lot of issues, but that's kind of the point of the podcast. We want to show that men from very different walks of life, with very different ideologies, can still come together over a cigar or cocktail and discuss the tough issues as men,” McClafferty says.

Cosric Aaron, a native-born son of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, owns and operates a successful local transportation company and is also a major player in the Virgin Islands horse racing scene.

He and Sunil Sharma, a Michelin-starred chef from New York who was born in India and raised in Dubai before relocating to the Virgin Islands, bring much more conservative views to the podcast's conversations.

“We think we are proof that politics doesn't have to be toxic. Edwin and Mac are clearly more liberal than Cosric and I, but that's what makes for good debate,” says Sharma.

The third episode of the podcast also featured special guest Javan James, a three-term senator from the U.S. Virgin Islands who hails from the Island of St. Croix.

“It was an honor to have the Good Senator on the podcast with us. He brought a lot of legislative history and knowledge to the table that I think helped drive up viewership. He is also the senator that saved horse racing in the Virgin Islands and for that I am personally grateful,” says Cosric Aaron.

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