You have to imagine that Anheuser-Busch executives would love to have a do-over for 2023.
It's also nearly impossible to imagine that Bud Light, once the world's most popular beer brand, could see its sales tumble after a Twitter post from Kid Rock.
In that post, Rock shot up cases of Bud Light, ostensibly because the Anheuser-Busch (BUD) -) brand hired the transgender social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a small marketing campaign.
The beer company sent Mulvaney a Bud Light can with her face on it and paid the influencer to share posts about the beer with her followers.
DON'T MISS: 'Fratty' Bud Light Drinkers Say Trans Influencer Is Not the Issue
The company was simply trying to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community and make Bud Light even bigger. Rock did not like that, nor did a significant portion of Bud Light's core audience, some of whom also took offense at comments made by the former Bud Light brand leader Alissa Heinerscheid.
On a podcast Heinerscheid called the beer's customers "fratty" and made other ill-advised disparaging comments about the customers who drank the beer brand she was leading.
“We had this hangover, I mean Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out-of-touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach,” she said.
Heinerscheid's comments, which were made before the Mulvaney campaign, were fuel on the fire; it was the use of Mulvaney in the first place that lit the flames.
And Kid Rock focusing attention on the issue has also made commenting on Bud Light an easy way to gain attention for country performers and fringe stars looking to establish their right-wing bona fides.
Image source: Netflix
Bud Light Has Become an Easy Target
After Kid Rock's comments, a number of country stars took a stand on Bud Light, with many going out of their way to say they won't drink the brand anymore or serve it in their bars.
John Rich of Big & Rich fame, Travis Tritt and, of course, Ted Nugent have all made anti-Budweiser comments and claimed to have dropped the company's products from their concert riders.
Budweiser did, however, have some supporters in the country community. Garth Brooks made clear that Bud Light would be served at his soon-to-open Nashville bar, which he pledged would be a place where all are welcome. In addition, Jason Isbell mocked Rock on Twitter for his stance.
Country singer Zach Bryan also joined Brooks and Isbell in calling for tolerance for everyone.
"I mean no disrespect towards anyone specifically, I don’t even mind @travistritt,” he tweeted on April 8. “I just think insulting transgender people is completely wrong because we live in a country where we can all just be who we want to be It’s a great day to be alive I thought.”
Now, since the entire country world seems to have been heard from, imprisoned Netflix (NFLX) -) star Joe Exotic has weighed in on the issue.
Netflix's Joe Exotic Sides With Kid Rock
When Netflix released "Tiger King," in March 2020, it became a massive hit, at least partially because it was released during the beginning of the covid lockdowns.
It was the sort of bonkers escapist reality/documentary entertainment that America needed to distract it from the terrible reality we were all living through,
The show made a star of Joseph "Joe Exotic" Maldonado, a kind of pro wrestling character who ran an illegal big-cat (tiger) breeding facility. Now, from prison, Exotic has weighed in on the Bud Light sales drop and has offered his help to the brand.
"Budweiser- Try putting the world's favorite transphobic gay redneck on a can and get back to selling beer," the jailed star's team posted on Twitter, along with a doctored image of a Bud Light can featuring him and a tiger.
"Maldonado is serving a 21-year sentence following a conviction in 2019 on multiple charges, including two counts of hiring hitmen to murder wildlife activist Carole Baskin. He was also convicted of killing tigers and selling them across state lines," Newsweek reported.
In addition to his admitted pride at his intolerance toward trans people, Maldonado has maintained his innocence and has asked both former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden to pardon him.
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