TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Gov. Ron DeSantis sided with consumers boycotting Bud Light for its promotion of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, saying conservative customers hold the “power” to hold the company accountable.
In an interview with political commentator Benny Johnson, DeSantis said he has ditched the American beer brand in an effort to cut his indirect support of “woke companies.”
“Why would you want to drink Bud Light?” DeSantis asked Johnson, “I mean like honestly, that’s like them rubbing our faces in it, and it’s like these companies that do this, if they never have any response, they are just going to keep doing it.”
The governor said conservatives “have power as consumers” to make their voices heard.
“Not on every company, because sometimes conservative consumers aren’t going to make a dent in some companies,” DeSantis said. “This one is one if you don’t have conservative beer drinkers, you’re going to feel that.”
He said some consumers might choose to look past the incident, but said the partnership was “part of a larger thing.”
“Corporate America is trying to change our country, trying to change policy, trying to change culture,” DeSantis said. “I’d rather be governed by ‘We the People’ than woke companies. I think [the] pushback is in order across the board including with Bud Light.”
Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, has received backlash after announcing a partnership with the trans influencer as a way to celebrate a full year of “girlhood.”
Mulvaney, who is known for documenting her gender transition in a series of TikTok videos, first posted a sponsored Instagram reel coinciding with the final days of the NCAA’s March Madness tournament.
In the video, Mulvaney cracks open a regular can of Bud Light, chats about March Madness, promotes a Bud Light contest, and says the brand had also sent her a special can with her face on it to celebrate the year anniversary of documenting the transition.
In response, country musician Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting a rifle at packs of Bud Light.
CEO Brendan Whitworth later said the company “never meant to be part of a discussion that divides people” in a lengthy statement published to Anheuser-Busch’s social media accounts. “
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” the statement continued. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
In a statement to the Associated Press, the company emphasized the one-off can it sent to Mulvaney with her face on it is not available for wider release.
