Photo: AP Photo/Phil Sears
Florida Gov.Ron DeSantisclaims to be launching an inquiry into Bud Light’s parent company, AB InBev, over itspartnershipwith transgender actor and influencerDylan Mulvaneythis past spring.
Mulvaney found herself at the center of unexpected controversy in April when she posted a video announcing aMarch Madness-related contest in partnership with Bud Light. The sponsored post quickly received negative commentary from right-wing social media personalities,politiciansand celebrities, sparking conservative backlash against Bud Light’s decision to partner with someone in the LGBTQ+ community.
Many critics used transphobic rhetoric to attack Bud Light forturning to “woke” advertisingand playing off of the current political climate, which has seena significant rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy being introduced in many conservative legislatures. Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, was also targeted.
On social media, many conservatives called for a “boycott” of the brand in addition to Anheuser-Busch’s portfolio of products, which includes Budweiser, Busch, Stella Artois, Michelob Ultra and Hoegaarden. Others shared videos of themselves shooting beer cans and lighting beer boxes on fire.
Dylan Mulvaney/Instagram
More than three months later, Gov. DeSantis, who isrunning for the GOP presidential nominationin 2024,published a statementsaying he became aware that the Florida State Board of Administration holds global equity assets with Anheuser-Busch and believes action must be taken against the company.
DeSantis' announcement comes just one day after he told Fox News that AB InBev is “pursuing a political agenda at the expense of” its shareholders, and said that Florida had $53 million worth of InBev stock in Florida’s pension funds of about $180 billion.
“As you well know, AB InBev’s performance has plummeted since its decision to associate its Bud Light brand with radical social ideologies,” his statement read. “That fateful decision has transformed America’s formerly best-selling — and one of InBev’s best-performing assets — into a commercial pariah.”
The statement — which is DeSantis' latest attempt at stoking right-wing culture wars after years of using his platform to rile up Republicans — further speculated that the “politicization” of the Bud Light brand “may be dragging down the value of other beverages within the AB InBev umbrella.”
Warning of a potential lawsuit, DeSantis on Friday asked his administration to review AB InBev’s “conduct” and how it has impacted funds.
“It appears to me that AB InBev may have breached legal duties owed to its shareholders, and that a shareholder action may be both appropriate and necessary,” the statement concluded.
Joe Raedle/Getty
DeSantis' latest actions are not the first time he has targeted the LGBTQ+ community under the guise of ending “wokeness.”
Perhaps the most visible of his attacks came with his advocacy for Florida’s so-called"Don’t Say Gay" billin 2022. The measure — which first took effect last July andhas since been expanded— blocks the discussion of certain LGBTQ+ topics (like gender identity and sexual orientation) in elementary, middle and high schools.
DeSantis' delayed decision to publicly go after Bud Light also comes two days after Florida made news forapproving new academic standardsrequiring middle schools to teach that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit” — a line that immediately ignited significant controversy among teachers' groups.
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On Thursday, Vice PresidentKamala Harris strongly condemned Florida’s new race education guidelines, saying they “push forward revisionist history.”
“They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us,” Harris said, “and we will not stand for it.”
source: people.com
