Joe Rogan drinks Bud Light during backlash from Dylan Mulvaney
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April 13, 2023 | 01:07
Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan opened a can of Bud Light on his show Wednesday amid calls to boycott the beer company after it partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“Why, if something is good, do you give a–k who has it?” Rogan asked on an episode of his show “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “Like, would we do this with cheesecake?”
Rogan discussed the backlash Anheuser-Busch received from celebrities like Kid Rock — who filmed himself shooting Bud Light cans — with comedian Sam Tallent.
“I love Kid Rock̵[ads1]7;s video because I love that kind of thinking — not even that I agree with it,” the podcast host said. “I like wild people. I like to raise hell, man.”
Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, saw its value drop more than $5 billion since the company announced its partnership with Mulvaney, who has millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok.
The 26-year-old influencer had posted videos of himself drinking Bud Light to promote the March Madness contest.
She also shared photos of memory boxes the company sent her with her face on them.
Rogan admitted he thought it was “funny” people were “super upset” about Bud Light rather than much more pressing issues happening across the country.
“How is that a big deal?” Rogan said. “I think it’s stupid. Because I think that person is bullshit. But if you want to hire a clumsy person, like, who gives a shit. It’s kind of funny.”
“It was also just a box with that person’s face on it. That was all there was, he continued. “It wasn’t like something they were selling.”
Tallent, meanwhile, suggested that many critics of the Mulvaney-Bud Light brand partnership were hypocritical.
“I think it’s crazy when people get upset about things like this, because people who get upset about these things value freedom and liberty so much and they want to live their lives without being deterred by anybody’s rules,” he said.
Rogan said he saw what the beer maker did by using “people who are popular” to help them. Mulvaney has more than 10 million followers on TikTok.
“And they’re trying to look more inclusive because of the assumptions people make about Bud Light drinkers,” Tallent said.
Alissa Heinerscheid, Budweiser’s vice president of marketing, previously said she wanted the brewery to update its “fratty” and “out-of-touch” image.
“I am a businesswoman. I had a very clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and that was ‘This brand is in decline, it’s been in decline for a very long time, and if we don’t attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand it will be no future for Bud Light,” she said.
In the end, both Rogan and Tallent said they had other beers to choose from. Tallent said he preferred Miller Lite, while Rogan said he goes for a heavier beer like Sam Adams.
In the wake of the backlash, Mulvaney said her critics don’t understand her.
“These people, they don’t understand me and everything I do or say is somehow taken out of context and used against me and it’s so sad because everything I try to say is positive,” she said on Rosie O’Donnell’s podcast Tuesday. “It’s trying to connect with others who may not understand me. It’s to make people laugh or to make a child feel seen.”
