Kid Rock was at the center of a Bud Light boycott that began in spring of 2023. However, he was spotted drinking the beer less than four months after declaring that he would never drink it again.
And then Robert James Ritchie declared that his boycott had officially ended last December.
The entire saga began in late March into early April. Bud Light partnered with Dylan Mulvaney, which sparked outrage amongst those who do not appreciate the transgender influencer’s messaging. They immediately stopped buying the beer, which caused Anheuser-Busch stock to plummet. It worked!
Kid Rock was a prominent voice in the initial calls for boycott. The then-52-year-old posted a viral video of himself blasting multiple rounds into cases of Bud Light.
Anheuser-Busch has worked hard to salvage its previous top-seller’s reputation over the last few months. Bud Light became the official beer of the UFC, pushed hard on its partnership with the NFL and signed Shane Gillis as a brand ambassador.
Kid Rock has also changed his tune! He “broke bread” with Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth in Nashville not long after the boycott caused Bud Light to sit untouched on the shelves.
Joe Rogan asked Kid Rock about his escapades with the American brewing company during a three-hour and thirty-minute appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. They wasted no time diving right in!
After explaining that the only two types of beer are cold and free, Kid Rock spoke about his role in the Bud Light boycott. He never intended to become the face of the entire ordeal.
Man, I was just having fun, to be honest with you. I was pissed, but it wasn’t like it was going to wreck my day, let alone my life. I was just kind of like “What the eff are they doing? This is too far.”
I became the face of it, but I’m not the pied piper to sit around and think people follow what Kid Rock does, I just became the face of it.
— Kid Rock
Rogan made sure to set the record straight about Kid Rock’s influence on society.
They kind of do. Listen man, when you got so upset that you were machine gunning cases of Bud Light, that was the end. That was really it. If there’s one moment that they look back on, it’s that moment.
— Joe Rogan
Both participants in the conversation have become good friends with Whitworth over the last 10 or so months. Kid Rock said that the CEO accepted his invitation to Nashville, where they “got hammered up on Bud Light and went bowling.” He also spoke about mutual attempts to work with Anheuser-Busch on a way to build the brand back up, much like they did with Peyton Manning, Gillis and others.
We had a good meeting before hand trying to think if there’s something I could do with AB but I just didn’t feel comfortable with it. I threw out some ideas that scared the living eff out of them, but at the end of the day I don’t feel right taking their money […]
I don’t want any corporate deals, there isn’t a penny on Earth that could make me change who am or have people look at me in a different way. Even though it’s probably half the country that likes me and the other half that wants to put a bullet in me.
— Kid Rock
They ultimately couldn’t come to an agreement on something that would work for both parties. Kid Rock doesn’t care. Bud Light made a mistake. The boycott sent a message. That’s the end of it.
At the end of the day, they got the message and I’m not someone who holds a grudge. Honest to God, I was having a lot of fun […]
One of the things I told him, as a friend, somebody who doesn’t want to see this brand destroyed anymore, “You got smacked, a pretty hard spanking, and I don’t want to hold your head underwater, drown this company and put people out of work. You got the message.”
— Kid Rock
Kid Rock is moving on!