A series of bars are joining the boycott of adult beverage brand Bud Light and will drop Anheuser-Busch products from their menus.
Sidetrack bar in Chicago, Illinois announced their decision to drop Anheuser-Busch products late last week.
"For 41 years Sidetrack has encouraged liquor and beer companies that have wished to garner the LGBTQ+ customer base to actively support our community," read a statement on Instagram. "However, we must also hold brands accountable if they take active steps against LGBTQ+ equality, visibility, and safety."
"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," the statement continued.
Sidetrack will continue their boycott of Anheuser-Busch products until the adult beverage company can "clearly demonstrate they will not acquiesce to the voices of hate that wish to erase LGBTQ+ existence."
Fellow Chicago-based 2Bears Tavern Group, which owns Meeting House, the Sofo Tap, Jackhammer, and 2Bears Tavern, said Busch Light, Bud Light, and Goose Island 312 would be dropped from menus.
"2Bears Tavern Group is discontinuing all Anheuser-Busch InBev products," 2Bears' statement read. "We gave Anheuser-Busch some time to revisit its position hoping it would realize it acted in haste. It did not."
"Instead, it went further in the wrong direction, apparently seeking to punish the people who came up with the plan to recognize Mulvaney in the first place by placing several of them on leave," the statement noted, referencing the company's attempt to downplay their sponsorship by suggesting the endorsement was “one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign,” according to AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris.
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth further commented on the boycott 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."
"My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another," Whitworth continued. "As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage."
2Bears Tavern Group contested Whitworth's statement: "it seems these words are lost on Mr. Whitworth and Anheuser-Busch, for true freedom, hard work, and respect would mean honoring Ms. Mulvaney's journey and the entire LGBTQIA+ community in its fight for the same human rights as those enjoyed by the people to whom Anheuser-Busch apparently prefers to market and sell its products."
