Last year: Dylan Mulvaney; this year: “gayer than ISIS” punchlines.
Bud Light announced this week on social media that it would partner with comedian Shane Gillis.
“Welcome to the team @shanemgillis, excited to be a part of your 2024 tour,” the brand’s account posted on Instagram, to which Mr. Gillis replied “excited to announce partnership with Bud Light #budlightpartner.”
Shane Gillis might be the polar opposite of Dylan Mulvaney.
He was tapped to join the “Saturday Night Live” cast in 2019, but was fired before ever appearing on the show “thanks” to cancel culture.
Jokes Mr. Gillis had made on his podcast and his show resurfaced in which, among other things, he recited an anti-Chinese slur and used “Jew” as an entry into derisive descriptions of liberal politicians.
The cancellation efforts came against Mr. Gillis in the wake of the Bud Light announcement.
The gay site Pink News published an article headlined “Bud Light partners with comedian fired from SNL over racist and homophobic comments.”
The article noted that he once derided “white fa—t comedians” who are “f—ing gayer than ISIS.”
It’s quite a turn.
Bud Light had been America’s top-selling beer brand when it partnered with the transgender influencer early this spring.
In subsequent months, sales cratered, tens of billions in market cap was lost, and there were layoffs throughout the supply chain. And there numerous demonstrative public actions against Bud Light, such as Kid Rock shooting up several cases of the beer.
It also came out that Bud Light‘s marketing vice president at the time, Alissa Heinerscheid, had said the brand needed to incorporate “representation” and “inclusivity” and overcome being “a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor.”
Ironically, Mr. Gillis appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast to mock Bud Light over the Mulvaney campaign.
“It became a joke,” he said. “That’s tough to overcome, marketing-wise. It’s tough to get people to order a Bud Light publicly. You’re gonna get made fun of.”
On his late-night Fox News show, comedian Greg Gutfeld noted that the Gillis addition followed on with deals with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and football hall-of-famer Peyton Manning.
“If they got any frattier, they’d sponsor a fart-lighting contest,” he joked.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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