Joe Rogan has shared his thoughts on whether he believes Bud Light will "bounce back" from the backlash the beer brand has faced since collaborating with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
On April 1, Mulvaney, 26, shared a video on Instagram in which she revealed that Bud Light had sent her a can with her face on it to commemorate 365 days of her living as a woman. Mulvaney's Days of Girlhood video series, which charts her first year of transitioning, has been a viral success.
The partnership drew condemnation from various conservative figures, including Texas GOP Representative Dan Crenshaw, with many issuing calls for a boycott of Bud Light. Musician Kid Rock reacted by sharing footage of himself opening fire on a stack of Bud Light cans, a move that was emulated by model Bri Teresi.
Amid the criticism and reports of plummeting sales, some Bud Light executives took a leave of absence, including marketing head Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch's mainstream brands.
The furor reflects an anti-transgender sentiment that has been growing across the United States, with bills targeting the rights of transgender people being embraced by Republican governors and lawmakers across the country.
In a recent episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan spoke with his guests—comedians Shane Gillis, Mark Normand and Ari Shaffir—about the ongoing attacks on Bud Light.
After Rogan said he had previously discussed "the ways they could turn it around," Gillis said: "It was an idea that if they did it their stocks would go through the roof, but...it would start a war."
Rogan, a former Fear Factor host, went on: "The most innocuous one I had was Pepe the Frog holding a Bud Light and it says, 'Feels bad, man.' Just release that. People would be like, 'I'm listening. Where are you going with this?'"
A cartoon character, Pepe the Frog has become a popular meme on social media over the years. Often referred to as the "sad frog meme," the character first appeared in the online cartoon Boy's Club in 2005 and used the catchphrase "Feels good, man."
Eleven years after his debut, Pepe was officially classified as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) after the character was co-opted by white supremacists supporting Donald Trump's candidacy for president.
After the classification was made official, Pepe creator Matt Furie told Newsweek: "The whole thing just seems a bit rushed. The fact that the ADL put Pepe the Frog as a whole as an official hate symbol, I don't really think it's true."
Furie then launched a campaign to #SavePepe, calling on people to post "peaceful or nice" images of the frog. It didn't work, and Furie subsequently decided to kill off his now infamous character in 2017.
Elsewhere on his podcast, Rogan's guests speculated that the Bud Light furor would be "forgotten" in a matter of months.
"No, you guys are crazy," Rogan hit back. "It's gonna hang in there for a long time. This is gonna be one of those cultural things. There's never been a brand that got hit like this before. This is a big deal."
The group then said the influx of companies set to show support for LGBTQ Pride Month—which takes place every June—will likely dilute the attention on Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light's parent company.
"Do you think Bud Light's gonna bounce back?" Rogan asked his guests, who resoundingly answered that they believed it would.
Rogan then offered a marketing solution. After suggesting Chuck Norris as the brand's new face, he drew laughs as he suggested that "they should hire Kid Rock to be the spokesman."
In recent weeks, social media users have shared photos and videos of Bud Light on store shelves and at venues to illustrate the purported success of their boycott of the beer brand.
Mulvaney broke her silence on April 28 in a video shared on Instagram.
"What I'm struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel," she told her followers. "I don't think that's right. You know, dehumanization has never fixed anything in history ever."
She went on: "I'm embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me since it is so loud. But I'm just gonna go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won't listen to that noise."
Mulvaney has since returned to posting brand partnerships on social media. Last week, she shared a video promoting a product from K18 Hair.
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
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
