PETA wants to team up with Kid Rock in campaign against Bud Light after he shot up their beer

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has asked anti-LGBTQ+ musician Kid Rock for help in its campaign against the Bud Light beer brand. Their request comes several months after Kid Rock shot up cases of Bud Light because the beer brand sponsored a 50-second Instagram video made by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

In a July 17 letter to Kid Rock, PETA wrote accused Anheuser-Busch — the company that brews Budweiser, Bud Light, and other beers — of “mutilating” Clydesdale horses for marketing purposes. PETA asked Kid Rock to remove the company’s beers from his Nashville, Tennessee restaurant, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock ‘n’ Roll Steakhouse.

Related:

Garth Brooks says transphobic “as**oles” aren’t welcome at his new bar

Right-wingers on social media threatened to boycott, delete, or throw out his music.

“[Anheuser-Busch] is cruelly amputating the tailbones — part of the spine – of its famous Budweiser Clydesdales just so they’ll look a certain way, a mutilation long considered a form of emasculation, something knights did to their enemies’ horses to cut their enemies down to size,” PETA wrote in its letter, according to The Street. “Budweiser named one of the horses who has been disfigured in this way ‘Kid Rock’ after you.”

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

“The company severs horses’ tailbones or puts tight bands around their tails to cut off blood flow so that the bones will die and fall off,” the letter continued. “It’s an unnecessary and permanent disfigurement that causes immense pain, affects the horses’ balance, and leaves them without natural protection from flies and other biting insects. Horses also depend on their tails to communicate with others in their herd.”

The letter said that the practice is condemned by the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Veterinary Medical Association. It’s also banned in 10 states and Belgium, where Anheuser-Busch is headquartered, PETA wrote.

PETA specifically reached out to Kid Rock because Anheuser-Busch named one of its horses after him, an PETA spokesperson told LGBTQ Nation, even though other celebrities and musicians also own restaurants that serve Bud Light. Regardless, Kid Rock has his own transphobic hatred of the Anheuser-Busch brand.

After Mulanvey announced a partnership with Bud Light, Kid Rock made a video of him shooting up four cases of Bud Light beer with an AR-15 rifle.

“F**k Bud Light, and f**ck Anheuser-Busch!” the musician said in the video.

A PETA spokesperson told LGBTQ Nation, “We also reached out privately to Dylan to ask her to join our campaign in light of her firsthand experience with Budweiser executives’ disregard for others’ suffering. If she ever decides to speak out on this issue, we’d be honored to partner with her.”

In 2021, Kid Rock called audience members in a Tennessee bar “fucking fa**ts.” He later responded to criticism over his comment by saying, “If Kid Rock using the word fa**t offends you, good chance you are one.”

The musician has also supported former President Donald Trump, the most anti-LGBTQ+ president of all time.

PETA has a long history of using deliberately provocative campaigns to gain media attention.

In 2008 and in 2014, PETA made un-scientific claims that cow milk causes autism; in 2009, PETA members dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes while protesting the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show; and in 2008, PETA ran a campaign comparing serial murdering cannibals like Jeffrey Dahmer to slaughterhouses. All of these campaigns have garnered public outrage and condemnation for their insensitivity to marginalized communities and human victims of hate-based violence.

Update (7/18/2023): This story has been updated to include comments from PETA.