Longtime country singer Garth Brooks is facing boycotts after saying his bar would serve all beers, including the much-maligned Bud Light, in the wake of the beer’s decision to produce a can with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s face on it.
“I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another,” Brooks
told Billboard in a recent interview, responding to questions about whether his new Nashville bar will serve Bud Light. “And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this: if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an [expletive], there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
Bud Light has been the target of a significant boycott over the Mulvaney can in early April. The beer has seen significant declines in sales over the past two months, according to industry data.
Robby Starbuck, a conservative commentator,
encouraged his followers in a Friday Twitter post to never go to Brooks’s new bar. “If you live in Tennessee, I recommend you never go to @garthbrooks new bar. They’re going to sell BudLight and apparently he thinks we’re [expletive] if we don’t like it. Make sure all your friends know that.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) took exception to Brooks’s comments last week, saying they were insulting. The lawmaker pointed to the “Friends in Low Places” singer’s relationship with Trisha Yearwood while he was married to another woman.
“Now I delete every Garth Brooks song from my collection. NEVER AGAIN GARTH!” wrote Robert Cornicelli, a GOP candidate for the U.S. House, on
Twitter.
Another person issued a Twitter
post that explicitly called for a boycott of Brooks’s music and products, generating tens of thousands of “likes” on the platform.
Among country singers, Brooks appears to be somewhat of an outlier. Starting in early April, multiple country singers including Travis Tritt and John Rich, as well as rap-rock musician Kid Rock, suggested that people boycott the Anheuser-Busch-made light beer over the Mulvaney fracas. In one viral video, Kid Rock shot up a case of Bud Light during target practice.
The CEO of Anheuser-Busch, Michel Doukeris, told investors in May that just “one can” with Mulvaney’s face was produced and suggested there was no partnership in a bid to distance Bud Light from the transgender influencer. In a subsequent Financial Times interview, Doukeris stated that there was social media-driven “misinformation” and “confusion” at play.
New Comments From Brooks
But on Monday, Brooks addressed the brewing controversy in a livestream, noting that there was “quite a little bit of a stir” since the interview with Billboard.“Everybody’s got their opinions. But inclusiveness is always going to be me,” Brooks
said. “I think diversity is the answer to the problems that are here and the answer to the problems that are coming. So I love diversity. All inclusive, so all are welcome. I understand that might not be other people’s opinions, but that’s OK, man.”
Brooks said that Bud Light is one of the most popular beers in the United States, and he will sell it and allow patrons to decide.
“So, here’s the deal, man, if you want to come to Friends in Low Places, come in. But come in with love, come in with tolerance, patience. Come in with an open mind, and it’s cool,” Brooks said, referring to the name of his bar. “And if you’re one of those people that just can’t do that, I get it,” he said. “If you ever are one of those people that want to try, come.”
After Brooks’s remarks, Rich was interviewed by Fox News at his own Nashville bar. He suggested that patrons likely won’t be purchasing Bud Light at his bar, either.
“If Garth is serving Bud Light in his bar, that’s fine,” Rich
told the outlet. “Garth can do that. Garth might find out not many people are going to order it. And at the end of the day, you have to put things in your establishment that people are going to purchase if you’re going to run a successful business. So, he might find that out.”
Last week, reports
indicated that Bud Light is no longer the top-selling beer in the United States. Modelo Especial, which is owned by Constellation Brands, is now No. 1, the data shows.
“Unless Bud Light starts to experience a serious course correction in terms of performance, which can only come from consumers finding their way back into the brand family, then that firm grip on the No. 1 rank by year-end loosens a bit more every week,” Dave Williams, an executive with Bump Williams Consulting, told CBS News last week.
