John Rich Reacts To Garth Brooks’ Decision To Serve Bud Light At Nashville Bar
on Jun 12, 2023
Garth Brooks is receiving a lot of criticism after recent comments he made about what beer brands his upcoming Nashville bar and honky-tonk will be selling. But, John Rich is coming to Brooks’ defense.
During a Q & A session with Billboard during CMA Fest, Garth Brooks responded to a question about the status of his Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk currently under construction in Nashville’s South Broadway District.
“I know this sounds corny. I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks,” Brooks said. “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.”
He went on to say that he plans to make every brand of beer available to patrons of the establishment.
“And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are,” Brooks said, allegedly referring to other celebrity bar owners’ choice to stop serving Bud Light amid the Dylan Mulvaney controversy. “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.”
Garth Brook’s statement was met with criticism by some who took his comment as a personal attack on anyone who opposed the sale of sale of Bud Light. But, one of the “Ain’t Goin’ Down” singers’ fellow country stars came to his defense.
Outspoken conservative country singer and fellow Nashville bar owner John Rich defended Garth Brooks’ decision.
John Rich spoke to Fox News Digital on Friday (June 9), saying that fans should expect nothing less from the “Ain’t Goin’ Down” singer.
“Garth Brooks has always been the guy that that said, ‘everybody come to my show,’” Rich told the outlet. “It’s something that we love about Garth. You know, he makes his music for everybody. And that really is what music is about. You’re making your music for everybody. Beer’s for everybody, too.”
“If Garth is serving Bud Light in his bar, that’s fine. Garth can do that. Garth might find out not many people are going to order it,” he said. “And at the end of the day, you have to put things in your establishment that people are going to purchase if you’re going to run a successful business. So, he might find that out.”
Rich added that Garth’s decision is likely an attempt to heal some of the division currently going on in the country.
In early April, Bud Light’s partnership with trans social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney went public, a boycott ensued. Conservative celebrities such as Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and John Rich were vocal about their opposition to Anheuser-Busch’s decision.
RELATED: THE BUD LIGHT BOYCOTT EXPLAINED
Kid Rock made his feelings known with a video posted to Instagram that shows him opening fire on cases of Bud Light stacked on an outdoor table. [STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING!]
View this post on Instagram
Travis Tritt posted a statement sharing that he was removing all Anheuser- Busch products from his tour hospitality rider. Tritt said that he knew of other country artists doing the same who were too afraid of repercussions to say so publicly.
Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled. I have no such fear. https://t.co/YgjO9P03tR
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023
John Rich also spoke out against the partnership between Bud Light and Dylan Mulvaney, but chose to let his customers decide what was served at his Nashville Redneck Riviera bar. Instead of halting sales of the brand, Rich continued to carry the beer. The result was a decline in sales.
“Instead of tossing Bud Light out of my bar when the story broke, I gave it a week to let my customers decide. Well, they spoke. Bud Light went from our #1 selling beer to flatlining in sales. My current inventory of Bud will be skunk before it’s depleted. Case closed,” Rich wrote on Twitter.
John Rich’s position on Garth Brook’s statement clearly comes from his own history as a businessman and the reaction he’s seen first-hand from his customers following the Bud Light backlash.
Hear John Rich’s full interview with Fox News Digital in the video below.
