Former President Donald Trump is still offering Bud Light at four of his hotels in the United States despite recent Republican boycotts against the beer brand.
Bud Light remains on the beverage menus at Trump accommodations in New York, Chicago, Miami and Las Vegas, according to the respective restaurants' websites. Meanwhile, the beer brand is not sold at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki in Honolulu and the menu for his winery at the Albemarle Estate in Charlottesville, Virginia, is not available online.
Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch has faced fierce backlash from conservatives since April 1 when transgender influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney posted an Instagram video of herself drinking a can of Bud Light that had her face on it as part of a promotional campaign.
In response, a number of high-profile Republicans called on Americans to stop drinking all Anheuser-Busch products—a move that led to a 26 percent decline in U.S. earnings, according to a JPMorgan client note from May 23.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump Organization via email for comment.
The row over transgender brand ambassadors is symbolic of a wider debate about the inclusion of transgender women in female issues and spaces. Some say transgender women should be treated the same as other women, while others say they are different and that hard-won women's rights must be protected.
Although the boycott calls have prompted a number of bars and other entertainment venues across the country to discontinue selling Bud Light, the beer remains available at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, the Trump National Doral in Miami and the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Trump himself addressed the Bud Light controversy last month, writing on Truth Social, his social media platform, that "money does talk—Anheuser-Busch now understands that," but has stopped short of calling for boycotts himself.
His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., however, was among the first to call off the boycotts.
On an April 13 episode of his podcast, Trump Jr. said he wasn't "for destroying an iconic company" over the controversy because Anheuser-Busch "itself doesn't participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates."
He also said that the parent company was a well-known donor to the GOP. OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying, shows that Anheuser-Busch donated $514,375 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2022 election cycle.
"Frankly, they don't participate in the same woke garbage that other people in the beer industry actually do, who are significantly worse offenders when I looked into it," Trump Jr. said on his podcast. "But if they do this again, then it's on them! Then, screw them."
Two weeks after Mulvaney posted her Instagram video, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth released a statement saying, "We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer."
However, the company's efforts to fend off criticisms did not appear to sway conservatives as its position was met with scrutiny from other groups. Some LGBTQ+ groups, such as the Human Rights Foundation, said the company's statement raises "considerable concern" for members of the community.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan's report from last month also found that "there is a subset of American consumers who will not drink a Bud Light for the foreseeable future."
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
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
