Howard Stern ‘dumbfounded’ over Kid Rock and Travis Tritt’s Bud Light protest
Howard Stern bashed singers Kid Rock and Travis Tritt in response to their outrage over transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light, saying he doesn’t understand why either cares so much.
During SirusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” Monday, Stern expressed shock over the backlash the influencer has received and questioned if there was something he was “missing.”
“I thought there must be a piece of the story that I’m missing,” Stern said.
“I’m not bothered by gay people or transsexual people. They don’t impact my life, they don’t hurt my life. I love when people are in love. You wanna be a woman? Be a woman. You wanna be a dude, be a dude. Be whatever you f—ing want.”
“As long as you ain’t hurting anybody, I’m on your team,” he added.
Mulvaney, a popular TikTok influencer with over 10 million followers, shared a video featuring packs of Bud Light with her face printed on the cans — sparking outrage from conservatives who claimed the beer brand was pushing “gender propaganda.”
In response to her brand deal, Kid Rock shared a video of himself online using Bud Light cases for target practice, while Tritt said Anheuser-Busch products will no longer be on his tour hospitality rider.
Stern on Monday said he wanted to speak with both Kid Rock and Tritt about their response, noting he is “coming from a place of, ‘Why do you care so much?'”
“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 this hurtful?’ I don’t know why he got so upset,” Stern said.
The radio host later noted that he didn’t get why the beer company’s marketing strategies would bother the singer so much for him to take his gun and aim at beer cans.
“Kid Rock, I know him. He’s got a great life. He transitioned from some kid in Michigan to a rock superstar! I’m really dumbfounded by why someone would care so much that they would blow up a can of Bud Light and say, ‘F— Anheuser-Busch.’ I don’t get it,” Stern said.
Last week, Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, stood by its decision to work with Mulvaney.
“Anheuser-Busch works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics and passion points,” a spokesperson for the company told Fox News.
“From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public.”
The intense backlash has “spooked” Anheuser-Busch distributors in the South, where there were fewer orders this past weekend, possibly in response to the partnership.
“We reached out to a handful of A-B [Anheuser-Busch] distributors who were spooked, most particularly in the Heartland and the South, and even then in their more rural areas,” a Beer Business Daily report noted.
“Whether it lasts or whether the publicity sparks incremental off-setting demand from over the ideological divide in metro areas, remains to be seen,” the publication wrote, adding that it will be difficult for Bud Light to “appeal to the sensitivities of a new generation of drinkers” without offending some longtime customers.
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Mulvaney is extremely popular among Gen Z — a demographic that beer companies are “desperate” to reach, according to the publication.
The popular influencer has made headlines all week due to the fierce backlash she has received over the partnership with Bud Light.
Most recently Mulvaney appeared to respond to her critics by sharing a video of herself singing Stephen Sondheim’s “No One Is Alone” from “Into the Woods.”
In the clip, taken from an event she held at the Rainbow Room to celebrate her 365th day of womanhood, Mulvaney wore an Audrey Hepburn-style black and pink ball gown.
“Thank you all for making me feel supported, I am not alone️️ #trans,” she captioned the post.
