Country singers Zach Bryan, Sheryl Crow clap back in Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney controversy
Two of country music’s biggest stars ratcheted up the brew-haha over Bud Light’s controversial ad campaign featuring transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Grammy-nominated crooner Zach Bryan hit out at comments that are “insulting” to transgender people after Travis Tritt announced he was boycotting the Anheuser-Busch product to protest 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.
In another tweet, Bryan revealed that he has “family transitioning” and that he has “blood to defend here.”
Bryan, whose hits include “Heading South,” also responded to backlash he received from some who said they were no longer his fans due to his comments.
Bryan wrote that it was “absolutely terrifying that saying ‘insulting others is wrong’ is reason enough for people to get so evil so quick.”
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.”
“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,” he added in a second tweet.
Tritt then indirectly referenced the fact that Anheuser-Busch is 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.”
Earlier this week, country music star John Rich said he removed cases of Bud Light from his Nashville bar as part of a boycott of Anheuser-Busch.
“The customers decide. Customers are king,” Rich said Monday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“I own a bar in downtown Nashville. Our number one selling beer up until a few days ago was what? Bud Light,” Rich said.
“We got cases and cases and cases of it sitting back there.”
He added: “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,” Rich said.
“At the end of the day, that’s capitalism. That’s how it works.”
Kid Rock, the Southern rock rap star, went viral last week for posting a social media video of himself shooting Bud Light cans with an assault rifle.
Anheuser-Busch, whose stock has dropped around 4% since the partnership with Mulvaney was announced, shaving some $5 billion off of its market capitalization, has stood behind the Bud Light-Mulvaney partnership.
The company released a statement that read: “Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
Some beer drinkers have ditched Bud Light in response to the controversy.
In Wyoming, there has been a noticeable decline in Bud Light beer sales among patrons at small, local bars.
Earlier this week, beery industry experts told The Post that the Mulvaney controversy appears to have to stay in power — raising the risk that there will be more boycotts of the nation’s biggest beer brand.
