Watch: Rosie O'Donnell, Howard Stern Weigh in on Dylan Mulvaney/Bud Light Controversy
Rosie O'Donnell and Howard Stern are the latest celebs to weigh in on the right-wing outrage around Bud Light partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Conservatives brewed up the latest culture war fracas after Mulvaney talked about the partnership with Bud Light in an Instagram message she posted on April 1. The beer company even sent Mulvaney a one-off novelty beer can that bore the image of her face.
In response, Kid Rock posted a video in which he opened fire with a long gun on several cases of the brand's suds and declared, "Fuck Bud Light, and fuck Anheuser-Busch."
Stern declared himself "dumbfounded" at Kid Rock's bullet-riddled reaction, Variety reported.
"I thought there must be a piece of this story that I'm missing," Stern told his listeners on SiriusXM on April 10. The self-proclaimed "shock jock" said that he, himself, is "not bothered" by people who are gay or trans, Variety relayed.
"They don't impact my life, they don't hurt my life," Stern said. "I love when people are in love. You wanna be a woman? Be a woman. You wanna be a dude, be a dude. Be whatever you fucking want. As long as you ain't hurting anybody, I'm on your team."
Moreover, Variety noted, "Stern observed that many of Kid Rock's songs are all about 'doing my thing and fuck you if you're not with me,' so he found it ironic that the singer would get so upset about Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney teaming up."
On the April 11 edition of iHeartPodcasts' "Onward with Rosie O'Donnell," the out celebrity introduced her guest for the day — Dylan Mulvaney — in a segment that had been recorded before the controversy erupted, according to Variety.
In the segment's intro, O'Donnell asked, "Kid Rock had to take an assault weapon and shoot the boxes of beer, proving what?"
O'Donnell then pointed out a basic tenet of capitalism to Kid Rock and other conservatives who had a problem with the company partnering with Mulvaney: Namely, it makes economic sense to market to as large a share of the market as possible.
"Beer companies have been supportive of the LGBTQIA community for decades," O'Donnell said. "Who do you think sponsors Pride? Gay people, trans people, we drink beer too, man."
Indeed, as EDGE noted last week, "Newsweek reported that half of America's leading brewers have LGBTQ+ partnerships."
"Put down your gun, Kid Rock, it's in bad taste," O'Donnell advised. "Especially after what happened at the school in Nashville."