Charles Barkley Goes on Profane Bud Light Rant, Has Nasty Message for Anyone Boycotting Brand
Last weekend, former NBA great Charles Barkley gave two expletive-laden rants supporting Bud Light in which he called anyone boycotting the beer a “redneck” and an “a**hole.”
Barkley was participating in the American Century Championship golf tournament near Lake Tahoe in Nevada when he jumped up onstage in a bar and began ranting about how everyone should buy a Bud Light — and if you don’t, you are a bad person.
“I want y’all to drink this f***ing beer. I want y’all to drink this f***ing beer,” Barkley railed on Friday night, according to Fox News.
“I got three cases of Bud Light. Hey, and I want to say this .… If you’re gay, bless you. If you’re transgender, bless you. If you have a problem with that, f*** you!” he continued.
But Barkley wasn’t done. He repeated his vulgar performance the next night.
On Saturday he again jumped onstage to exhort people to drink Bud Light.
“I’m gonna buy some drinks for y’all. And I’m gonna buy Bud Light. And I’m gonna tell y’all something: All you rednecks or a**holes who don’t want to drink Bud Light, f*** y’all. Hey, y’all can’t cancel me,” Barkley grumbled.
NEW: Charles Barkley defends Bud Light and calls critics of the beer brand “rednecks” and “assholes” during a profanity laced rant at a bar in Lake Tahoe, California.
“All you rednecks or a**holes who don’t want to drink Bud Light… f**k y’all.”
“Hey, y’all can’t cancel me. I… pic.twitter.com/p3IDRf0UTa
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 18, 2023
He went on to insist that he can’t be canceled.
“I ain’t worried about getting canceled,” the TNT broadcaster exclaimed. “Because let me tell you something, if y’all fire me and give me all that money, I’m gonna be playing golf every f***ing day. As I said last night, if you’re gay, God bless you. If you’re trans, God bless you. If you have a problem with them, f*** you.”
One Twitter user who posted a video of the rant to the social media platform offered his take on the rant in the caption, writing, “Is Barkley trying to get a job in the Bud Light marketing department?”
Barkley seems to be in the minority for his outspoken support for Bud Light, though, especially if its sales numbers during the Independence Day holiday are any indication.
The entirely organic boycott of Bud Light does not appear to be slowing down, not even a tiny bit, and the July Fourth weekend was a particular problem for the beer.
For the week ending on July 8, while Americans celebrated the holiday, they also seemed to be celebrating their independence from Bud Light by purchasing other beer brands for their cookouts.
On the tail of the holiday, the New York Post published data from Bump Williams Consulting, which reported that sales of Bud Light fell by 23.6 percent compared to the same period last year.
Other beers, including Miller Lite, Coors Light and Modelo saw increases in their share of sales.
Speaking of Modelo, that Mexican-styled brew has toppled Bud Light as America’s top-selling beer for several weeks in a row.
Of course, this whole mess is one of Bud Light’s own making as the boycott was kicked off after the brand partnered with transgender TikTok activist Dylan Mulvaney in April.
The Mulvaney partnership infuriated many beer fans and sparked a boycott that put serious pressure on Bud Light and sent parent company Anheuser-Busch into panic mode. Two executives were “put on leave” and later it was announced that they had been fired.
Barkley is likely right that he can’t be canceled. He’s made so many outrageous comments over the years that he’s pretty much Teflon at this point. But calling millions of patriotic American’s “rednecks” and “a**holes” is certainly not going to win him any allies. And it for sure won’t help Bud Light any.
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