Howard Stern usually isn’t at the center of hot-topic conversations anymore, but the notorious shock jock has inserted himself into America’s culture war over LGBTQ visibility by challenging Kid Rock and other conservatives to explain why they are so incensed about transgender star Dylan Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light.
During the Monday episode of SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show,” the radio host said he was “dumbfounded” over the strong backlash aimed at Anheuser-Busch, which produces Bud Light, over Mulvaney, a transgender activist and social media star who boasts more than 10.8 million TikTok followers, Variety reported. Stern wondered if he was “missing” something.
“I wish I could call Kid Rock and have him come on the show and just tell me, ‘Why are you so upset about this? How is it hurtful?’” Stern said. He said that gay or transgender people “don’t impact my life.”
“I love when people are in love,” Stern said. “You wanna be a woman? Be a woman. You wanna be a dude, be a dude. Be whatever you (expletive) want. As long as you ain’t hurting anybody, I’m on your team.”
Rock went viral last week by posting a video of himself using a semi-automatic rifle to shoot cases of Bud Light after Mulvaney began appearing in Bud Light ads on April 1. Country singer Travis Tritt joined the “anti-woke” chorus by also tweeting that he would no longer support Anheuser-Busch, the company that produces Bud Light, as well as Budweiser and and several other beer brands.
While some distributors worried about the potential of a Bud Light sales slowdown, various so-called “anti-woke” voices continued calling for a Bud Light boycott. https://t.co/hC53lLaQHD
— Ad Age (@adage) April 11, 2023
More recently, Ted Nugent weighed in on Eric Bolling’s Newsmax show, saying that LGBTQ-friendly ad campaigns by Anheuser-Busch and Jack Daniels are somehow “disrespectful” to their “core consumer demographic,” which is supposedly made up of conservatives, Billboard reported.
“This is the epitome of cultural deprivation in an ongoing tsunami of cultural deprivation,” Nugget said.
By challenging such comments, Stern riled up people even more, with some questioning whether the self-proclaimed “King of All Media” is still “relevant” in American culture. Others said he’s become a “snowflake” who’s sold out his rebel persona to the “woke culture.”
But a number of long-time Stern fans said his support of LGBTQ rights is actually consistent with his rebel persona, while he also received support from surprising quarters. Novelist Joyce Carol Oates said she never thought she’d agree with Stern on anything but asked, “Isn’t he correct?” Others thanked Stern for being the “voice of reason” in this conversation.
never thought that I would agree with Howard Stern but isn’t he correct? the outrage that people feel for transgender persons, or the outrage they pretend to feel for transgender persons, is bizarre. how much more worthy of outrage are mass shootings, environmental pollution. https://t.co/ou5ONZCrvG
— Joyce Carol Oates (@JoyceCarolOates) April 11, 2023
As Ad Age reported, the controversy over Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney hasn’t shown any signs of blowing over. Some distributors are worried about the potential of a Bud Light sales slowdown, as critics call for a boycott.
“The episode illustrates the risk that brands can take when partnering with influencers while revealing that some Americans are particularly uneasy when brands they might support meet politics that they don’t,” Ad Age said.
But it also appears that the controversy is generating fierce support and a new level of brand awareness for Bud Light. On his show, Stern said he found it ironic that Rock would get upset about Mulvaney being a presence in the culture and in Bud Light’s decision to team up with the influencer. Stern said Rock’s songs have always been about “doing my thing and (expletive) you if you’re not with me.”
Rosie O’Donnell also questioned the outrage of Rock and others at the top of her episode Tuesday for her “Onward” podcast. The episode featured an interview with Mulvaney, though it appears the interview was recorded before the controversy erupted, so the influencer didn’t address it.
But O’Donnell brought up the controversy in her introduction, saying: “Kid Rock had to take an assault weapon and shoot the boxes of beer, proving what?”
“Beer companies have been supportive of the LGBTQIA community for decades,” O’Donnell said, according to TooFab. “This is not the first time. Who do you think sponsors pride? Gay people, trans people, we drink beer too, man. Put down your gun, Kid Rock, it’s in bad taste. Especially after what happened at the school in Nashville.”
During the interview, Mulvaney said she has tried to steer clear of controversy in the past year and “somehow it has made me controversial still.”
“I think it comes back to the fact that these people, they don’t understand me and anything that I do or say then somehow gets taken out of context and is used against me,” Mulvaney said. “It’s so sad because everything I try to put out is positive, it’s trying to connect with others that maybe don’t understand me, it’s to make people laugh or make a kid feel seen.”
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