Maybe the Budweiser Clydesdales should identify as thoroughbreds.
Anheuser-Busch has canceled an appearance by its iconic team of horses over fears for employee safety.
According to a report by Missouri TV station KOLR-10, local Budweiser distributor Wil Fischer Distributing decided to cancel all showings involving the Clydesdale team, including one scheduled for Springfield.
The CBS affiliate for the Springfield area said Anheuser-Busch provided no other details.
The cancellation comes in the midst of a storm of controversy over Bud Light partnering with transgender social-media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The Budweiser Clydesdales pulling beer wagons, often through the snow or rain, has long been a staple of Anheuser-Busch marketing, including in Super Bowl commercials.
“We aren’t going to comment on the issue … everything is still sensitive in social media,” an executive at Wil Fischer told the New York Post, asking not to be identified by name.
Examples of the backlash include country music star John Rich pulling Bud Light from his Nashville bar because it wasn’t selling and Kid Rock shooting up cases of Bud Light and aiming obscenities at both the beer and the company.
Sales reports also indicate losses.
A Beer Business Daily report reviewed by Fox News said that the industry source “reached out to a handful of [Anheuser-Busch] distributors who were spooked, most particularly in the Heartland and the South.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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