Joe Rogan cracked open a can of Bud Light and took a sip — defying calls to boycott the beer over its tie-up with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Rogan began his wildly popular Spotify podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Tuesday by welcoming his guest, country music star Zach Bryan, with a toast in which they both raised cans of Bud Light.
“We’re drinking Bud Light, ladies and gentlemen,” Rogan declared at the start of the three-hour broadcast.
Rogan, anticipating fury from his many conservative-leaning listeners, offered a sarcastic apology.
“Sooooorry,” he exhaled.
“People are silly,” Rogan added.
Bryan, who received backlash online after he defended Bud Light and Mulvaney, also commented on the expected reaction on social media, adding: “We’re f–ked.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” replied the standup comedian and MMA announcer, whose podcast commands an audience that numbers an estimated 11 million listeners.
Bryan took a sip of Bud Light and reached out to Rogan for a toast.
“Give us a little cheers, sir,” Rogan said to Bryan.
“Cheers, brother,” the country music star said in response to Rogan’s gesture.
The boycott of Bud Light has taken a toll on parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s bottom line.
The conglomerate on Thursday reported a 10.5% drop in revenue and a nearly 30% plunge in core profit in the US during the second quarter — and has lost nearly $40 billion in value.
Many Anheuser-Busch distributors say they are resigned to their painful Bud Light losses — and that they have given up on luring back disaffected customers following the Mulvaney fiasco
Rogan, who in the past has referred to Mulvaney as “mentally ill,” a “confused person,” and an “attention whore,” railed against the “silliness” of the backlash that was whipped up in response to Mulvaney’s social media posts touting the beer.
“One person made a really stupid decision and now everybody has decided that Bud Light is the enemy,” the podcaster continued.
It’s unclear if Rogan was referring to Mulvaney as the “person [who] made a really stupid decision” or the since-fired Anheuser-Busch executives who green-lighted the marketing campaign.
“That’s like this thing that people do in America where they just decide, ‘Now I hate these people. These people are the enemy’,” Rogan said.
Bryan, who came to the brand’s defense earlier this year after noting that he had transgender family members, said that he had been a Budweiser and Bud Light drinker “my entire adult life.”
He then mentioned the public dust-up with fellow country star Travis Tritt, who “came after me” for defending Bud Light.
Tritt was one of several public figures who vowed to boycott Bud Light over the Mulvaney partnership.
Bryan told Rogan that he and Tritt met face to face at a music festival where the two men cleared the air.
“Travis Tritt — he’s so respectable and he’s like a good guy,” Bryan said.
“And I met him at Two Step Inn… and it was just cool to get to talk to him about it and to see two different views.”
Rogan’s stance upset some on social media, including one X user who wrote in a social media post that he was “scared to fully take a side in the culture war.”
Another X poster wrote: “Joe ROGAN needs to be CANCELLED!”
“I know his bud light bulls–it yesterday set my sons hair on fire and they shut him off.”
Another Rogan critic on X sounded off, writing: “Neither [Rogan or Bryan] care if women are erased from the social conversation. Obviously.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
