Jordan MillerHours after Box Elder County leaders approved his controversial data center project, “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary took to social media to allege those who spoke against it came from outside the state — and that the opponents online include paid protesters.
“What’s happening in Utah right now, we think over 90% of the protesters are actually not people who live in Utah or Box Elder County,” O’Leary said in a video he posted to X on Tuesday morning. “They’re being bused in.”
His comments came after a raucous Monday meeting in which the Box Elder County Commission voted unanimously to clear the way for the massive “hyperscale” project, which will occupy some 40,000 acres centered in Hansel Valley north of the Great Salt Lake. O’Leary is the project’s lead developer.
[Read more: At contentious meeting, Box Elder County OKs massive data center project backed by a celebrity investor.]
The meeting at the Box Elder County Fairgrounds in Tremonton was so contentious, commissioners left the main hall where the hundreds in attendance were gathered to take the vote in another location.
O’Leary, a Canadian, said in his video that “people who live in Utah aren’t stupid,” and they “see this happening and realize, ‘Why am I letting people who don’t even live in my state make decisions for me?’”
“There are professional protesters that are paid by somebody, I don’t know who,” he said, continuing, “and of course they use A.I. to generate the —," then interrupted himself and began again.
“If you look at the social media around the Utah proposal,” he continued, “much of it’s A.I. generated, which I think is kind of hypocritical.”
O’Leary did not provide any evidence for why he believed most of the protesters at Monday’s meeting came from out of state or why he believed opponents are paid professionals.
A Salt Lake Tribune reporter at Monday’s meeting did not see buses dropping people off.
Before the meeting began, hundreds filtered in to participate in a rally opposing the project. Protesters said they came from across the state, including Cache, Utah, Salt Lake, Weber, Davis and Box Elder counties.
Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority approved the project late last month. The Box Elder County commission’s Monday vote allows MIDA to create the project area — which is mostly made up of privately owned, unincorporated land within the county — where it can offer an array of incentives to the developer.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of the crowd react as commissioners vote during a Box Elder County Commission meeting at the county fairgrounds in Tremonton on Monday, May 4, 2026.
— Tribune reporter Samantha Moilanen contributed to this story.
