Several Chicago LGBTQ bars have vowed to boycott Bud light and other Anheuser-Busch products over the company’s “abandonment” of transgender TikToker Dylan Mulvaney.
Sidetrack Bar and 2Bears Tavern Group, which owns several bars in the city, made announcements on social media condemning the actions of Anheuser-Busch Inbev and its CEO Michel Doukeris.
2Bears Tavern Group said in a statement that its bars would be discontinuing all Anheuser-Busch InBev products, including Busch Light, Bud Light, and Goose Island 312.
“Anheuser-Busch’s decision to drop its support of Mulvaney in response to ignorant and hateful objections by some of its customers shows how little Anheuser-Busch cares about the LGBTQIA+ community, and in particular transgender people, who have been under unrelenting attack in this country,” the group’s statement reads.
2Bears Tavern Group includes bars 2Bears Tavern Uptown, Jackhammer, Meetinghouse Tavern and the SoFo Tap.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Sidetrack Bar in an Instagram statement on May 5.
“Bud Light’s recent decision to drop the Dylan Mulvaney campaign, to put on ‘leave’ those who created it, as well as the statement by its CEO, wrongfully validates the position that it is acceptable to acquiesce to the demands of those who do not support the trans community and wish to erase LGBTQ+ visibility.”
Sidetrack Bar stated it will continue its boycott of Anheuser-Busch products until the company can “clearly demonstrate they will not acquiesce to voices of hate that wish to erase LGBTQ+ existence.”
These announcements come after weeks of controversy surrounding Bud Light’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney. In late April, Mulvaney posted an Instagram video showing a customized can of beer celebrating his “365 days of girlhood.” The can had an image of Mulvaney’s face.
Since then, the brand has suffered severe backlash. This includes a 17 percent drop in sales and at one point, a loss of $6 billion in market value. While the company has recovered from this, sale numbers seem to continue their decline.
Bud Light CEO Brendan Whitworth eventually issued a statement intended to quell the negative public response. He said that the beer brand “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris has also made comments about the incident. He told investors last week that the can made for Mulvaney was not for production or sale to the general public.
“It was one post, not a formal campaign or advertisement,” he said.
The company’s actions have not appeared to have the desired effect. Rather than stop backlash, it seems that LGBTQ companies are joining the boycott – but for a different set of reasons.
Mark Robertson, a co-owner of the 2Bears Tavern group, told WLS-TV in Chicago that Anheuser-Busch chose to side with hate.
“Unlike what we would expect from Anheuser-Busch, that had a history of supporting LGBTQ events and programing, sponsoring things like pride in Chicago, they chose to side with hate.”
