Global Courant 2023-04-18 09:53:34
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis encouraged people to continue boycotting Bud Light while promoting transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney, saying conservative consumers have the “power” to hold the company accountable. He also revealed his favorite alternative beer.
During a Monday night interview with political commentator Benny Johnson, DeSantis said he would stop drinking Bud Light because he didn’t want to help “wake up companies” and their goals “trying to change our country, trying to change policies.” to make. and) trying to change (the) culture.”
“Why would you want to drink Bud Light? I mean honestly, that’s like they rub our face in it, and it’s like these companies doing this, if they never get a response, they just keep doing it,” DeSantis told Johnson .
The Republican governor suggested that conservatives don’t have to sit on the sidelines, but that they have the “power” to hit the company where it hurts: their bottom line.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis makes remarks at the 2022 CPAC Conference at Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek, Thursday, February 24, 2022. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“So, as a consumer, if you think… ‘yeah, they do, but I’ll just keep drinking it anyway’, well, they’ll keep doing it,” the governor continued. “So I think as consumers we have the power to speak up, and not for every company, because sometimes conservative consumers won’t make a dent in some companies.”
He added, “This is one if you don’t have conservative beer drinkers. You’re going to feel that and so you know.”
The comments come as Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch are facing a massive backlash after teaming up with Mulvaney, a biological man who identifies as transgender.
The controversy started when the company celebrated Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood” by sending Mulvaney custom cans with the influencer’s face on them.
A video then showed Mulvaney in a bathtub drinking a Bud Light beer as part of the campaign.
“Bud Light just sent me the best gift ever: a can with my face on it,” Mulvaney wrote, adding the hashtag #budlightpartner.
Anheuser-Busch set social media on fire when beer juggernaut Bud Light celebrated transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood” with a polarizing promotion. (Instagram)
Brendan Whitworth, Anheuser-Busch’s CEO, addressed backlash from consumers and some celebrities in a statement released Friday, in which he neither apologized to offended customers nor expressed remorse in the Mulvaney campaign.
“It was never our intention to be part of a discussion that divides people. Our job is to bring people together over a beer,” said Whitworth. “I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners.”
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The CEO added: “Going forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our country.”
Anheuser-Busch has lost $5 billion in value since the campaign started.
Anheuser-Busch has lost $5 billion in value since announcing a partnership with transgender personality Dylan Mulvaney. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
DeSantis also said, “Some of these controversies that come up, and people can just say, ‘Oh, well, it’s kind of a one-off, yeah, it was a stupid thing to do,’ but it’s part of a bigger thing where corporate America is trying to change our country trying to change policy trying to change culture and you know I’d rather be ruled by us humans than shaken up corporations and so I think (the) pushback in the whole world is in place plate with Bud Light, among other things.”
Alternatively, the Florida Republican told Johnson that he and his wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, prefer a Guinness Draft.
“What would I do? My wife and I, if we just go out for a beer, we actually like the stout, Guinness,” he explained, sharing that the couple have “always been a fan” since they moved to Dublin, Ireland visited.
Perfectly poured pint of Guinness seen in BAH33. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Earlier in the day, the DeSantis team also released a video mocking Bud Light by emphasizing the “real men of women’s sport.”
The “Real Men of Women’s Sports” video is a parody of Bud Light’s “Real Men of Genius” campaign from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In it, a voice reads, “Team DeSantis presents real men’s or women’s sports.”
The video then features clips of trans swimmer Lia Thomas and other transgender athletes competing in their respective sports.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses supporters during a campaign stop during the Keep Florida Free Tour at the Horsepower Ranch in Geneva. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“Today we recognize the men who hacked into the system,” the narrator continues jokingly. “Once mediocre with the men, now the cream of the crop with the ladies. From mediocre to champion!”
The video continues, “Because without you, sport would be fair. Without you, women’s sport would be for, well, women.”
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DeSantis quickly rose to prominence among conservatives after moving from the U.S. House of Representatives to Florida’s governor’s mansion. Once in office, he has used his platform to steadfastly defend conservative issues, and has been an outspoken critic of “waking up.”
The Republican is reportedly considering a bid for the White House as early as 2024, though he has not yet decided if he will launch a campaign.
Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.
