John Oliver waded into the conservative freakout over a Bud Light ad campaign featuring trans activist Dylan Mulvaney, and the Last Week Tonight host had plenty to say about Kid Rock and Budweiser’s weird, 9/11-themed response to the backlash.
After explaining that this whole debacle began after of one sponsored video showing Mulvaney opening a can of Bud Light on her social media channel, Oliver went to town on conservatives who “lost their sh*t” over the fact that the beer company partnered with a trans woman. Kid Rock even went so far as to shoot Bud Light cans with an AR-15, and Oliver ruthlessly tore apart the trigger happy display.
“I don’t think there’s a more dangerous way to dispose of Bud Light other than, of course, drinking it,” he explained. “And second, not to gun shame Child Rock here, but you are 20 yards away from a target that’s bright, identifiable, and crucially stationary, and you are spraying bullets all over the place. Perhaps that is why it sure seems like you may have help there because if you watch it slow down, you’ll notice that three blasts that actually destroy the cases appear to be coming from the right.”
However, Budweiser seemingly caved to the right-wing freakout by releasing an odd, pro-America commercial starring its iconic Clydesdale horses. Granted, the ad didn’t specifically address the controversy, but it was a milquetoast middle of the road response that Oliver did not appreciate.
“[It is] really annoying to be both sides in something when the two sides are: I am trans, and that makes me so mad I’m gonna shoot $65 worth of non-refundable beer,” he quipped before noting the weird 9/11 imagery.
“Is that a 9/11 reference by Budweiser?” Oliver said. “Because shots of a horse running through the planes and remembering 9/11 feels less like an ad and more like the results of feeding an AI program the prompt: America, freedom, I’m sorry.”
The Last Week Tonight host ended the segment by noting there was only one way that Budweiser should have responded to the boycott.
“When bigots are loudly announcing, they don’t like your beer because they are bigots, that is an opportunity for you to say, ‘Then our beer is not for you.'”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)