Garth Brooks raised the ire of some country music fans after saying he’d serve “every brand of beer” at his new bar — including Bud Light, which conservatives have criticized for its recent collaboration with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Bud Light’s collaboration with Mulvaney led to a widespread boycott of the brand and extravagant shows of force against the beer. In one case, MAGA-world favorite Kid Rock filmed himself shooting several cases of the beer to show his disdain for the partnership.
Brooks, the second-best selling musical artist of all time, told Billboard he hoped Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, which is set to open in the South Broadway District of Nashville, would be “the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks.”
“I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another,” he said. “And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this: if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an asshole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
Several bars in the same section of lower Broadway, including Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock n’ Roll Steakhouse, removed Bud Light from the menu in early April, but when Insider looked at the steakhouse’s website in June, the beer was back on the menu.
Brooks’ decision to support the beer has angered some of the country star’s conservative audience. The hashtag #boycottgarthbrooks has more than 30,700 views.
“He’s making me want to go to Nashville just so I could go ahead and piss on his doorstep,” said one TikToker.
“Now I delete every Garth Brooks song from my collection. NEVER AGAIN GARTH!” tweeted Robert Cornicelli, a Republican who ran for New York’s 2nd Congressional District last year and lost.
“It ain’t hard to see who you’re gonna vote for,” said TikToker Brian Calihan who also called Brooks a “sissyboy.”
“We don’t put up with that, you know why? We’re Americans, bro,” said one TikToker. “We fight for what’s right. We fight for what’s true. We don’t cater to mental illness. No. Garth Brooks, go hide under a rock. You’re irrelevant. Not worth a word anymore. You know what? I don’t listen to any of your songs anymore.”
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz even weighed in, alleging that Brooks cheated on his first wife, Sandy Mahl, with his current wife, Trisha Yearwood.
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States[2] with success on the country music single and album charts,[3] multi-platinum recordings and record-breaking live performances, while also crossing over into the mainstream pop arena
Brooks is the only artist in music history to have released nine albums that were certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (surpassing The Beatles’ former record of six); those albums are Garth Brooks (diamond), No Fences (17× platinum), Ropin’ the Wind (14× platinum), The Chase (diamond), In Pieces (diamond), The Hits (diamond), Sevens (diamond), Double Live (21× platinum), and The Ultimate Hits (diamond).
