(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, broke his silence over the ongoing controversy involving Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, over an infamous partnership with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“The people also side with us on wanting to see an economy where businesses focus on their core missions,” DeSantis said. “Rather than indoor indulging in woke political activism and what you see happening and, look, some of it it’s annoying, some of it, their virtue, signaling and its grating and honestly […] you see Bud Light doing all this stuff, but some of this stuff I think is really insidious.”
Earlier this month Mulvaney took to TikTok to boast a personalized Bud Light can of beer with her face on it. The can, according to Bud Light’s statements, was meant to celebrate the 356-day anniversary of Mulvaney’s transition into womanhood.
DeSantis, who in previous weeks avoided speaking of the Bud Light scandal, sounded the alarm on an agenda that goes beyond transgenderism: Environmental, social and governance.
“When you look at movements like ESG, environment, social governance, what they’re trying to do is hijack corporate power in order to advance an ideological agenda,” he continued. This is an agenda that is hostile to domestic energy production. Hostile to people believing in Second Amendment rights, even hostile to traditional conservative Americans in many respects. That’s bad enough but what makes it even worse is they’re doing this outside the traditional constitutional process. They’re trying to change policy in this country without ever having to put those ideas up for a vote.”
ESG, a key idea of the modern Democratic Party, is a political tool to push corporations in America to advance a leftist, woke ideology. In March 2023, President Joe Biden used his first veto to protect ESG activists, blocking a bipartisan bill that prohibited the U.S. Department of Labor from considering environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions for the retirement funds of Americans.
Both Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch saw a whopping $6.6 billion loss in value after announcing a controversial partnership with Mulvaney, which caused a nationwide outcry from conservatives who accused the companies of championing transgenderism and woke ideology.
The relentless backlash forced Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth to issue an apology over the partnership.
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. My time serving this country taught me the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another,” Whitworth said in a statement that many conservatives called insufficient and “stupid.” “As CEO of Anheuser-Busch, I am focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.
Anheuser Busch has finally released a statement, and it’s just as clumsy and stupid as the marketing stunt that got them into this mess in the first place. pic.twitter.com/XUndM2b6qh
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 14, 2023
