While discussing his Nashville bar, the country legend says, 'If you're an a**hole, there are plenty of other places' to drink.
Garth Brooks wants to keep things friendly on lower Broadway. The country star spoke out about being inclusive amid a firestorm of transphobic hate directed at a popular beer company.
During a panel conversation at Billboard Country Live during CMA Fest last week, Brooks touched on the recent backlash aimed at Bud Light after the brand partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for an ad campaign earlier this year. Answering a question about his Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, which is expected to open in the near future in Nashville's South Broadway District, Brooks confirmed that he has full intentions of keeping Bud Light stocked behind the bar.
"I know this sounds corny," he said of the venue. "I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks … I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another. And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a**hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway."
Meanwhile, several other bars in the area -- including John Rich's Redneck Riviera and Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N' Roll Steakhouse -- stopped serving Bud Light in response to its polarizing partnership with Mulvaney. Kid Rock didn't stop there, opting to share a video on Twitter of himself shooting cases of Bud Light while hurling expletives at the Anheuser-Busch brand.
Travis Tritt also tweeted earlier this year that he planned to remove all Anheuser-Busch products from his tour hospitality rider. "I know many other artists who are doing the same," he wrote, noting that some were not publicly acknowledging it "for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled."
"I have no such fear," he added.
In his chat with Billboard, Brooks was asked to reflect on what his life might have been like had social media existed during the early days of his career.
"I was on the front page of the USA Today for being a bad husband and man," he said, referencing his first marriage to Sandy Mahl. "I’d have never survived that if there had been social media, ever … I sucked at being a husband, I was horrible at it. I was horrible at being a dad. I had to get my s**t" together."
He continued, praising his wife of 17 years, Trisha Yearwood, "And I'm not saying I do, but I will tell you this -- the person you’re with does make a huge difference in your life."
Back in April, 26-year-old Mulvaney shared a video on Instagram to promote a contest for Bud Light while showing off commemorative cans with her face on them to celebrate her "365 days of girlhood" series. The ad drew ire from a vocal portion of consumers, prompting Anheuser-Bush CEO Brendan Whitworth to issue a statement saying they "never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people."
Weeks later, Mulvaney returned to social media with a message of her own.
"What I'm struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel," she said in a video. "I don't think that's right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history ever. And, you know, I'm embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me, since it is so loud. But I'm just gonna go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won't listen to that noise."
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