Bud Light Is Dividing Country Music

While the ongoing backlash against Bud Light has been a contentious issue for the past two months, it has proved to be decidedly divisive among country music stars.

Bud Light drew relentless criticism in April for a small branded partnership it had with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In a video posted to Instagram on April 1, Mulvaney said that the beer brand had sent her a can with her face on it to commemorate 365 days of her living as a woman.

Mulvaney's partnership with Bud Light drew condemnation from several conservative figures, including Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw. Many issued boycott calls, and there has been overt scrutiny of an increasing number of companies over their pro-LGBTQ+ marketing initiatives.

Amid criticism and reports of plummeting sales, some Bud Light executives took a leave of absence. These included marketing head Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for parent company Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands.

With country musicians having a sizable conservative fanbase, their publicly expressed opinions on the issue have proved to be impactful. As is the case across the U.S., the stars are not in lockstep when it comes to their views of Bud Light.

Country Stars Against Bud Light

One of the earliest responses came from country rock star Kid Rock, who posted a video to his social-media accounts. It started with him standing with his back to the camera wearing a MAGA (Make America Great Again) baseball cap.

Kid Rock—given name Robert James Ritchie—said in the clip: "Grandpa is feeling a little frisky today. Let me tell you as clear and concise as possible."

The shot then widened to reveal the 52-year-old holding an assault rifle. The musician then cocked the firearm and began shooting at several cases of Bud Light, which had been placed on top of a table by a river.

The musician shot at the cases of beer until they burst open and liquid poured out of them before he turned back to the camera, where he raised his middle finger.

"F*** Bud Light and f*** Anheuser-Busch," Kid Rock shouted.

Travis Tritt reacted to Bud Light's collaboration with Mulvaney by revealing that he would no longer request any Anheuser-Busch products on his tour rider. A rider is a list of requirements provided by artists when performing, including food, drinks, room setup, and any other needs they may have for them and their entourage.

"I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same," he tweeted in April.

"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 added in a follow-up tweet.

"In full disclosure, I was on a tour sponsored by Budweiser in the '90s," Tritt added. "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."

Riley Green also waded into the Bud Light debate, by changing the lyrics to one of his best-known songs. While performing at Nashville's Nissan Stadium in April, Green remixed the lyrics to his hit "I Wish Grandpas Never Died."

Instead of singing, "I wish coolers never run out of cold Bud Light," Green replaced the beleaguered beer brand with Coors Light. A clip of the moment was posted on Twitter, where it quickly went viral.

Country star John Rich revealed during an appearance on Fox News in April that he had pulled cases of the brand from his bar in Nashville, Tennessee.

"The customers decide. Customers are king," Rich said on the since-canceled Tucker Carlson Tonight. "I own a bar in downtown Nashville. Our No.1-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 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.' At the end of the day, that's capitalism. That's how it works."

Country Stars Defending Bud Light

Amid the backlash in their music community, some country stars spoke out against the visceral reaction to Bud Light's collaboration with Mulvaney.

One of them was Jason Isbell, who mockingly wrote on Twitter of Kid Rock's expletive-filled Bud Light shooting video: "Is this one of those three words you wish you could say to your teenage self things?"

When a Twitter user responded by saying that "Kid Rock is 100 times a better musician than you," Isbell hit back: "Boy he can't shoot for s*** though can he?"

Isbell also responded to a post pointing out that Coors Light, which Kid Rock had declared to be his beer of choice, was also "guilty." An infographic in the post noted that Coors "has had an anti-discrimination policy including sexual orientation since 1978, one of the first American corporations to do so."

"This is finally how we get him," Isbell wrote in response. "Leave no bigoted beers to drink."

Rising country star Zach Bryan expressed his objection to the anti-transgender sentiment that he'd seen sweeping social media amid the Bud Light furor.

"I mean no disrespect towards anyone specifically, I don't even mind @Travistritt," he tweeted in April. "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."

The message was endorsed by Sheryl Crow, who wrote "thank you" in response. Crow collaborated with Kid Rock on the tracks "Picture" and "Collide."

Bryan also weighed in on criticism of former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines, who has campaigned against the inclusion of trans women in women's sports.

"And yo I don't support transgender people attacking swimmers," he tweeted. "I just have family transitioning and have blood to defend here. No one threaten me pls."

Bryan added that it was "absolutely terrifying that saying 'insulting others is wrong' is reason enough for people to get so evil so quick."

While a number of his fellow country stars have publicly declared their aversion to Bud Light in recent months, Garth Brooks has said he does not plan to discriminate.

Speaking at Billboard Country Live in Nashville earlier this month, Brooks touched upon his Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, which will open this summer in the city's popular South Broadway District.

"I know this sounds corny, I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks," he told Billboard. "I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another."

Alluding to the Bud Light backlash, the musician added: "And yes, we're going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It's not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you're an a******, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway."

A faction of MAGA Republicans have since vowed to throw out Brooks' music over his willingness to stock Bud Light. The musician has long been known for his LGBTQ+-inclusive stance.