Ron DeSantis Confronted With His Own Bud Light Stance After Legal Threat

Ron DeSantis was challenged by Megyn Kelly on his proposal to sue Bud Light's parent company over the recent boycott of the brand over its collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The podcast host questioned the Florida governor over the impact of the boycott on the beer brand's value, which in turn hit the Florida pension fund.

Kelly pointed out the Florida governor had himself backed the Bud Light boycott, though he insisted this was just "a personal thing."

Newsweek has contacted Anheuser-Busch and Governor DeSantis for comment by email.

DeSantis is running to be the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee with polling recording him as the second most popular choice with GOP voters, some way after former president Donald Trump. The Florida governor has previously battled another corporation, Disney, when he stripped the entertainment giant of the special self-governing rights it enjoyed after the company opposed his Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law by critics.

During an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, released on Friday, DeSantis denied seeking to punish private companies for "political wrong think."

Referring to Bud Light's parent company, he said: "Take Anheuser-Busch, we're not punishing them, they departed from business practices by engaging in social activism. That has caused a huge problem for their company and their stock price has gone down.

"Well, our pension fund in Florida holds Anheuser-Busch InBev stock. So it's actually hurt teachers, it's hurt cops, it's hurt firefighters who depend on that pension fund."

Kelly then pointed out DeSantis had supported the boycott, to which he replied: "I did but that's just as a personal thing, we didn't have the state government necessarily putting power about it, but as an American, I said I'm not doing Bud Light.

"But for this, we are defending the people that are beneficiaries of the pension. The wokeness, yes it's annoying when they're trying to throw an agenda down your throat you don't like it, but it does have an impact on the economy. It has an impact on people who hold stock and that's not just rich people, that's those people. So with InBev, they departed from their fiduciary duty and so we're investigating."

Bud Light became the target of a boycott campaign after the brand collaborated with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, to celebrate her transition to womanhood at the end of March. Weeks later, DeSantis described a conservative campaign to boycott Bud Light in response as "righteous" during an appearance on The Benny Show, adding: "Why would you want to drink Bud Light?"

Earlier this month, DeSantis wrote to the Florida state pension manager urging them to take legal action against Anheuser-Busch, which the fund had invested money in. The governor argued the company had "breached legal duties owed to its shareholders" by associating with "radical social ideologies."

Earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch announced it was planning to lay off two percent of its U.S. workforce, in a bid to "simplify and reduce layers within its organization."

The previous month, company CEO Brendan Whitworth admitted his firm had been hit by the boycott, commenting: "We recognize that over the last two months, the discussion surrounding our company and Bud Light has moved away from beer, and this has impacted our consumers, our business partners, and our employees."