Bud Light Logos at Trump Rally Raise Questions

Photographs of Bud Light logos at former President Donald Trump's Erie, Pennsylvania, rally on Saturday sparked questions on social media.

Trump, who is running in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, campaigned in the western Pennsylvania city as he aims to maintain his lead over his Republican rivals. The former president remains the frontrunner to win the GOP nomination, as his challengers continue to splinter support among anti-Trump Republicans. During the rally, Trump attacked his Republican challengers as well as President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, some Trump critics took to Twitter to point out that logos of Bud Light, the beer brand decried by conservatives as being "woke," were plastered across the Erie Insurance Arena where Trump held the rally.

Bud Light drew ire from anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives after the beer brand sent a personalized beer can to Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender activist and influencer, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of her transition in early April. The campaign sparked conservative-led boycotts that have taken a financial toll on the company.

Photos from the rally showed a Bud Light logo on the arena's jumbotron, prompting outrage from some of Trump's conservative-leaning critics.

Criticism particularly stemmed from those who are supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has made his embrace of right-wing culture war issues a cornerstone of his presidential campaign. He said last week that he plans to sue the beverage's parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev, claiming that its floundering sales damaged Florida's pension fund. In a letter to the company, DeSantis wrote that they had "breached legal duties owed to its shareholders and pursing a "social agenda at the expense of hardworking people." Critics, however, have accused the governor of retaliation over the Mulvaney partnership.

While many accused Trump of being sponsored by the beer brand on Saturday, the logo on the jumbotron appears to be a more permanent fixture rather than a sponsor of the former president. Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign and Bud Light for comment via email.

"Trump's half-empty rally tonight in PA featured an unfortunate sponsor: Bud Light," tweeted Matt Wolking, the strategic communications director of the Never Back Down PAC, which supports DeSantis.

"BUD freaking LIGHT? You Can't Make This Up," tweeted Twitter user @KahnStephen.

"Bud Light: The official beverage of Magadonia," tweeted conservative activist Jaimee Mitchell.

Others, however, defended the former president. Trump's defenders pointed out that Bud Light appears to be sponsoring the venue, rather than Trump himself, making the logo irrelevant.

"The venue is sponsored by Bud Light. The Trump campaign is not," wrote Twitter user @TheRealMcKeever.

What Has Trump Said About Bud Light Controversy?

While many conservatives have spent months attacking Bud Light over Mulvaney's partnership, Trump, who has previously criticized conservatives for overusing the word "woke," has not been quite as vocal.

Some conservatives have been critical about Trump owning millions of dollars of company stock. Trump's most recent 101-page disclosures form, filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and shared by The New York Times in April, shows that he owns between $1 million and $5 million in Anheuser Busch InBev.

Still, the former president took aim at the beverage company in a May Truth Social post.

"It's time to beat the Radical Left at their own game. Money does talk—Anheuser-Busch now understands that. Great new Book by Wayne Allyn Root. Buy your copy today," he wrote at the time.