In April, Kid Rock made his anti-trans and generally bigoted stance clear after Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, aligned with Dylan Mulvaney. “Grandpa is feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all you and be as clear and concise as possible,” the musician said in a video posted on April 3, showing him wearing a MAGA hat and shooting his gun at Bud Light products. “F*ck Bud Light. F*ck Anheuser-Busch. Have a terrific day.”
— KidRock (@KidRock) April 4, 2023
This week, CNN published a video report on the ongoing controversy. CNN’s Ryan Young visited Nashville, where Garth Brooks and Kid Rock have neighboring bars.
“Despite the online bravado and talk of a boycott, Bud Light was available when CNN stopped in recently. It is not clear if the ban had been lifted or if there ever had been one to begin with,” Young said about Rock’s Big Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse.
Kid Rock declared a Bud Light boycott. Here’s what CNN saw at his bar. https://t.co/MnqcwDbTw4 pic.twitter.com/k6zDd8TVaK
— CNN (@CNN) July 12, 2023
“Billboard was unable to reach anyone at Rock’s restaurant by phone or email for comment at press time, but a quick check of its online menu revealed that Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Light Lime were listed under the domestic beer section,” Billboard additionally reported on Wednesday, July 12.
In June, Garth Brooks explained to Billboard that his yet-to-open Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk would serve “every brand of beer” and emphasized that “inclusiveness is always going to be me.”
Jason Isbell directly responded to Kid Rock’s transphobia, tweeting, “Is this one of those three words you wish you could say to your teenage self things” and “This is finally how we get him. Leave no bigoted beers to drink.”
Mulvaney addressed the Bud Light backlash in a June TikTok. Watch it below.
@dylanmulvaney Trans people like beer too. 🏳️⚧️🍻