A bar in Springfield, Missouri, had to cancel an Anheuser-Busch-related event involving the brand's famous Budweiser Clydesdales due to threats made to employees of one of the distributors.
It is another in a string of new threats and cancellations made after transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney announced a partnership with Bud Light, a brand under the Anheuser-Busch umbrella, on Instagram. Bud Light had given Mulvaney a commemorative can with her face on it to celebrate her "365th day of girlhood."
The move provoked a conservative backlash in some cases, including boycotts of the beer by musicians Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, and former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake—the latter of whom criticized Bud Light for going "woke" and said her supporters now refuse to indulge in the beer.
Finnegan's Wake, an Irish pub in the city's downtown area, said in a statement that the event scheduled for April 7 was canceled due to local representatives for an Anheuser-Busch distributor "being personally threatened while performing their everyday job duties."
"Threatening someone with a different viewpoint is completely unacceptable," Finnegan's Wake said in the statement, as reported by Springfield news station KOLR. "The hate and vitriol we have recently seen are not something we tolerate or support. If you have a problem with how a company conducts its business, it is your right to not patronize their business, but it is never okay to threaten physical violence, vandalism, sabotage, etc."
An employee who answered the bar's phone on Tuesday and requested to remain anonymous told Newsweek that the statement was originally posted on the business's Facebook page last Friday, on the day of the scheduled event, but was subsequently removed due to "90 percent [of Facebook users] spreading hate." They said that the bar "didn't want to create a forum for them."
"We support the rights of free speech, protesting, and religion, as long as it doesn't threaten the rights and safety of others," the bar's statement read. "We will continue to support Anheuser-Busch, their spokesperson, and trans-rights. Stop supporting outrage politics, canceling, and anti-wokeness. Anti-woke is just a cover statement because you can't say whatever homophobic, racist, or discriminatory outburst you want."
The bar also apologized to those who had looked forward to the event featuring the famous equines popularized in repeated Super Bowl commercials.
It was the only event in downtown Springfield scheduled to feature Clydesdales, according to the Finnegan's Wake employee.
"We were hoping to just have a community event. There was zero cost to families," they said. "It was all ages. We were gonna have food and music and have photo-ops with the Budweiser Clydesdales."
The statement was initially posted online, they said, due to wanting to let the community know of the cancellation due to individuals RSVPing for the event.
"A lot of people took it the wrong way, that it was canceled for various reasons—including some ideas we don't particularly agree with," they added. "We are pro-human rights. We are not OK with anyone ever using violence as a method of sharing their opinion."
Wil Fischer is the distributor whose employees were allegedly threatened, according to KOLR. They reportedly confirmed the cancellation in a statement, saying it was because of "employee safety."
"We have no official comments to make on these or similar reports," Sean Taylor, vice president of business administration for Wil Fischer, told Newsweek via email on Tuesday when asked if threads led to the event's cancellation.
On March 30, Downtown Springfield—the local community business district—wrote on Facebook that the Clydesdales would be coming to Finnegan's Wake and would be accompanied by a Budweiser beer tent and a taco food truck.
It was described as a "unique opportunity for a selfie with one of the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales!"
Newsweek reached out to Downtown Springfield via email for comment.
KOLR reported that in wake of the threats made against Wil Fischer, all additionally scheduled Budweiser Clydesdale appearances had been canceled.
"The local distributor, Wil Fischer Distributing, decided to cancel all Clydesdale showings in Springfield this week due to safety concerns for their employees," Kellie Flynn, an Anheuser-Busch commercial manager, told Fox 2 St. Louis in a statement.
Recently, Guy Cummins, owner of the Smokin' This and That BBQ in Kentucky told Newsweek that he has noticed verbal altercations in his bar over patrons consuming Bud Light.
He has questioned whether or not he should stop selling the beer altogether—even posting on his business's Facebook page that he "will no longer be serving Budweiser or Budweiser light due to inappropriate labels."
The post was subsequently deleted but can still be found on Reddit.
"A few days ago, I noticed a person got Bud Light and the other patrons were making fun of them," Cummins told Newsweek after the fact. "If it's going to cause a problem, why have it? I'm protective of the people coming in here."
Newsweek reached out to Anheuser-Busch via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Nick Mordowanec is a Newsweek reporter based in Michigan. His focus is reporting on Ukraine and Russia, along with social ... Read more
