Country music stars Zach Bryan and Sheryl Crow are adding their voices to the ongoing debate surrounding Bud Light’s controversial ad campaign featuring transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bryan, a Grammy-nominated singer, took issue with comments that he found “insulting” to transgender individuals, after fellow country singer Travis Tritt announced a boycott of Bud Light in protest of the Mulvaney-Bud Light partnership.
“I mean no disrespect towards anyone specifically, I don’t even mind @travistritt,” Bryan tweeted on Saturday. “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.” Sheryl Crow, the singer-songwriter, responded to Bryan with a “Thank you” and a heart emoji, showing her support.
Bryan, who has hits such as “Heading South,” also revealed in another tweet that he has “family transitioning” and that he has “blood to defend here.” He further addressed the backlash he received from some fans who said they would no longer support him due to his comments, stating that it was “absolutely terrifying that saying ‘insulting others is wrong’ is reason enough for people to get so evil so quick.”
Travis Tritt, known for his country music career, had previously announced his boycott of Anheuser-Busch products, the parent company of Bud Light, due to their partnership with Mulvaney.
Tritt tweeted last week, “I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.” He added in a second tweet, “Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled. I have no such fear.”
Tritt also indirectly referenced the fact that Anheuser-Busch is now a subsidiary of Belgian multinational beverage giant AB InBev.
“In full disclosure, I was on a tour sponsored by Budweiser in the 90’s,” Tritt tweeted. “That was when Anheuser-Busch was American owned. A great American company that later sold out to the Europeans and became unrecognizable to the American consumer. Such a shame.”
Country music star John Rich also spoke out against Anheuser-Busch, stating that he had removed cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar as part of a boycott of the company.
Rich appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and stated, “The customers decide. Customers are king. I own a bar in downtown Nashville. Our number one selling beer up until a few days ago was what? Bud Light. We got cases and cases and cases of it sitting back there.”
Rich further explained, “But in the past several days you’re hard-pressed to find anyone ordering one. So as a business owner, I go, hey if you aren’t ordering it, we got to put something else in here. At the end of the day, that’s capitalism. That’s how it works.”
Kid Rock, the Southern rock rap star, also made headlines last week for posting a social media video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with an assault rifle.
Despite the backlash and boycotts, Anheuser-Busch has stood behind its partnership with Mulvaney.
The company released a statement that said, “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
However, some beer drinkers have responded to the controversy by ditching Bud Light, leading to a noticeable decline in sales at small, local bars in Wyoming.
