The country music star Brantley Gilbert, who recently toured with the metal band Five Finger Death Punch, seemingly showed his disdain for the beer Bud Light during a concert in Alabama on Saturday (April 15).
The country singer did so during a cover of a Queen song, apparently unaware of the irony.
Currently, conservatives are in an uproar after Bud Light this month partnered with the transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney, the influencer who made a series of videos called ”365 Days of Girlhood” about her gender transition, as CBS News reported.
Subsequently, the American right has called for a boycott of the Anheuser-Busch brand, despite the fact that the brewing company has long presented itself as LGBTQIA-friendly, according to Newsweek.
READ MORE: 28 LGBTQ+ Icons in Rock + Metal
Still, Gilbert — the star himself doesn’t drink — made the onstage statement against Bud Light, violently throwing a can of the beer to the floor, as fan-captured footage found on TikTok shows.
Per Taste of Country, it happened during Gilbert’s band’s cover version of Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” a 1980 hit led by a famously flamboyant bisexual performer and LGBTQ+ icon, the late Freddie Mercury, making the move unquestionably ironic.
Brantley Gilbert Demolishes Bud Light Can
The video shared on TikTok finds Gilbert with the beer can already in his hand. As his band plays a hard-edged version of “Another One Bites the Dust,” Gilbert says, “Yeah, f–k that,” and throws the can to the ground. The beer can explodes to cheers from the crowd.
READ MORE: Kid Rock Shoots at Cases of Bud Light Because They Partnered With a Trans Activist
After that, Gilbert tosses another beer in a silver can. He throws it to his drummer and urges him to shotgun it. As Taste of Country reported, the host of the podcast Dear America, Graham Allen, re-shared the video on Instagram. There, Gilbert commented on it with two shrug emojis and said, “miss you brother.”
As seen below in an example of support the Bud Light boycott has received, a fan re-shared Allen’s post on Instagram, adding, “No @budlight in this camp.”
Brantley Gilbert smashes beer can
Bud Light’s Response to Boycott
Last week, per ABC News, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth released a statement that said, in part, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.” See below.
Brantley Gilbert is touring with Nickelback this summer.
To learn more about trans rights or how you can be an ally, visit National Center for Transgender Equality.
28 LGBTQIA+ Icons in Rock + Metal
Here are 38 icons from the rock and metal world who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.