The backlash against Anheuser-Busch is now coming from both sides of the political spectrum since the company teamed up with controversial transgender-identifying activist and social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney to advertise its Bud Light products.
Several gay bars in Chicago are now boycotting all Anheuser-Busch InBev products over the company’s alleged “anti-transgender actions and statements” in reaction to backlash from those unhappy with the Mulvaney partnership.
2Bears Tavern Group, which owns four gay bars in Chicago, announced in an Instagram post Friday, “All 2Bears Tavern Group bars are discontinuing Anheuser-Busch InBev products as a result of the brewer’s anti-transgender actions and statements.”
2Bears said the brewing corporation’s response “shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country.”
View this post on Instagram
Though coming from an opposing viewpoint, the owner of a Florida seafood restaurant chain similarly announced last month that he was removing Bud Light products from his establishments over Anheuser-Busch’s actions.
“I am disgusted by what you have done and what you are doing,” Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar owner Joe Penovich wrote in an open letter to the corporation via Facebook, Fox Business first reported. “You are the one causing this division and anger in our society. You are responsible for making some of the gay community think Grills does not welcome them. And you knew EXACTLY what you were doing when you launched this campaign. How could you not? ‘Good ole boy beer … meets Dylan Mulvaney? Hmm. Let’s see what that does to the country.’ NOBODY is that stupid. This goes way beyond transgenderism.”
Conservative critics of Anheuser-Busch’s team-up have voiced outrage over what they view as the corporation participating in the erasure and mockery of women. Mulvaney, a male, has claimed over the past year that he’s a “girl,” documenting his “journey” online.
Seemingly attempting some damage control, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth put out a statement last month saying that the corporation “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” adding, “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
The statement contained no mea culpa and no mention of Mulvaney or the radical transgender ideology he espouses, further upsetting conservative critics. The statement, however, also upset LGBT activists, who felt the corporation was “caving” to conservatives.
Related: ‘F*** That’: Country Music Star Gets Tossed A Bud Light During Concert, Smashes It