Is Oktoberfest Banning Bud Light After Controversy? What We Know

As Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch face ongoing criticism for partnering with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney, new claims about the beer brand have continued to surface on social media.

On Sunday, Larry Elder, a radio host who recently announced his bid as a Republican presidential candidate for 2024 shared a link on Twitter that included a story from Dunning-Kruger Times which claimed that Budweiser brands will not be allowed at the popular Oktoberfest in Germany.

"Budweiser Brands Won't Be Welcome at Oktoberfest For The 1st Time in 75 Years," Elder wrote in the tweet.

Over the past few weeks, Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch have faced backlash and calls to boycott the beer in response to a partnership with Mulvaney. The transgender activist posted a video on Instagram earlier this month showcasing a customized Bud Light can with her face on it. The beer company's partnership with Mulvaney was to celebrate her transition to a woman.

While criticism of Bud Light has been focused on the partnership with Mulvaney, across the U.S. there is an ongoing debate about transgender women in other spaces, such as sports.

The link posted by Elder states that this year's Oktoberfest, a beer festival lasting several weeks in Munich, will not feature Budweiser beer brands.

However, the "about us" page on the Dunning-Kruger Times website states that the website is satirical and there is currently no information verifying that Budweiser brands were removed by Oktoberfest. Newsweek reached out to Elder via email for comment.

"Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical," the page states.

The Dunning-Kruger effect, which appears to have inspired the name of the website, is a "cognitive bias" where people "with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general," the Encyclopedia Brittanica states.

In Internet parlance, the term is often used to refer to the overconfidence of individuals despite their low IQ levels.

The fake news story goes on to state that in 2022, Bud Light and Budweiser were listed as "complementary" beers at Oktoberfest and the festival's menu said: "Due to the low alcohol content and lack of flavor, Anheuser Busch's flagship products are deemed suitable for children over 16."

A spokesperson for Oktoberfest told Newsweek on Tuesday: "Satire is satire. But, as a matter of fact: Budweiser brands have never been served at the world's largest folk festival, Oktoberfest Munich."

Newsweek has reached out to Anheuser-Busch via email for comment on the false claims.

Amid the ongoing criticism, some executives at Bud Light recently took a leave of absence, including marketing head Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands.

Last week, Elder announced his plans to run for president in 2024 as a Republican candidate. Elder previously ran in California's 2021 recall election, where he was defeated by the state's current Governor Gavin Newsom.

"America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That's why I'm running for President," Elder wrote on Twitter.

Update: 4/25/23, 9:13 a.m. EST. This story has been updated to include a statement from Oktoberfest.