JD Wetherspoon has become the latest brand to drop Conor McGregor in the wake of his civil rape case, which saw a jury rule in favour of a woman who accused him of raping her.
The popular pub chain said it has removed the MMA fighter’s Forged Irish Stout ale from sale at its seven locations in the Republic of Ireland.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the firm said: ‘Wetherspoon has taken the decision to remove the product, Forged Stout, in its pubs in ROI.”
Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to the woman, who had accused him of raping her in December 2018 in a penthouse suite of a Dublin hotel.
Wetherspoon’s move to pull the beer comes after several other major retailers across the UK and Ireland stopped selling alcoholic drinks associated with McGregor.
Tesco, Asda, Musgrave and the BWG Group are among those to stop stocking Proper No. Twelve whiskey, which McGregor launched in 2018.
A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No. Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.”
A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.”
It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor.
He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper No. Twelve Irish whiskey brand to US firm Proximo Spirits in 2021, in a deal for which he was reported to have been paid more than £103 million.
On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter.
The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series.
McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game.
IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately.
“We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications.
“Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.”
The Independent has contacted Proximo Spirits for comment.
