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Conservatives Lose It Over Garth Brooks' Inclusive New Bar & Bud Light (Again)
The country singer draws ire & boycotts from the right for passing the lowest bar possible for allyship.
Garth Brooks is drawing the ire of conservatives for passing the lowest bar possible for queer allyship: Vowing to serve Bud Light in his new Nashville-based bar Friends in Low Places.
During a Q&A with Billboard, the country legend discussed his new business saying “I want it to be a place you feel safe in. I want it to be a place that you feel like there are manners and people love one another,” adding, “Yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are.”
To be fair, allyship is always welcome, especially in spaces like the country music industry where that hasn’t always been the case, but it’s also disheartening that the most basic expectation that a business would not actively exclude queer people has to be considered noteworthy, and worthy of gratitude.
Compared with other people in the music industry’s reaction to Bud Light partnering with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney — like country singer John Rich suspending the sale of Bud Light at his bae on Nashville’s Broadway or country aesthetic appropriating Michigander Kid Rock shooting up a case of Bud Light — Brooks’ move both feels like progress and even radical.
Sigh.
Brooks affirmed that Friends in Low Places — which is set to open this summer — will be a place where patrons can expect to feel love, and not hate. “Our thing is this: if you come into this house, love one another,” he said. “If you’re an asshole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway to go.”
Naturally, conservatives are in full meltdown over Brooks’s statements.
\u201cHow long do you think it will take for Garth Brooks\u2019 bar, Friends in Low Places, in Nashville to go under now that he has alienated much of his clientele? Will it even get off the ground? This bud\u2019s for you. Go woke, go broke!\u201d— Tony Voodoo (@Tony Voodoo) 1686423854
\u201cGO WOKE GO BROKE!!\u201d— TCK\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@TCK\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1686523990
\u201cGarth Brooks and Bud Light \u2026 both washed up & irrelevant. \n\nI support protecting children from predators at all costs. \n\n#BoycottBudLight\u201d— FFT\u2122 \ud83d\udc60Conservative (@FFT\u2122 \ud83d\udc60Conservative) 1686430714
\u201cGarth Brooks is the Liz Cheney of Country Music!\n\ud83c\udfb5\ud83c\udfbc\ud83c\udfb6\ud83c\udfb5\ud83c\udfbc\ud83c\udfb6\ud83c\udfb5\ud83c\udfbc\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc06\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud835\udc13\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc06\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc1d\ud835\udc1f\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc2b\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9) 1686523661
However, fans on social media were quick to point out why Brooks’s comments on inclusion should not come as a shock to anyone who has been paying attention to him — and his lyrics — for decades.
\u201cGarth Brooks outright saying transphobia won't be tolerated at the bar he's opening in Nashville is not one bit surprising. He's been an ally to LGBTQ folks since the early '90s. We know Garth has got our backs.\u201d— Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1686447284
\u201cLol at people upset that Garth Brooks won\u2019t join in their anti-LGBTQ Bud Light boycott clearly don\u2019t remember him singing that we shall be free \u201cwhen we\u2019re free to love anyone we choose\u201d 31 years ago. And then performing it with rainbow stage lights a few years back.\u201d— Josh, the Love Pirate (@Josh, the Love Pirate) 1686320241
\u201cRepublicans just noticed Garth Brooks isn\u2019t one of them and it is glorious\u201d— Dara Does Deep State (@Dara Does Deep State) 1686402654
\u201cAll these people mad at Garth Brooks like he didn\u2019t write this in 1992\u201d— Alex (@Alex) 1686340253
\u201cRWNJ: "Garth went woke!!! \ud83e\udd2c Let's boycott him" \n\nGarth Brooks in 1992: \n"When we're free to love anyone we choose\nWhen this world's big enough for all different views\nWhen we all can worship from our own kind of pew\nThen we shall be free, yeah"\n\n\ud83d\udc9c\ud83d\udc95\ud83e\ude77\u201d— Kelsey Sproat \ud83d\udc95 (@Kelsey Sproat \ud83d\udc95) 1686600716
\u201cJust a reminder that Garth Brooks single handedly changed the entire country music scene in the 90s. Radio stations changed formats, bars installed wooden floors for line dancing.\n\nHis restaurant will be fine without terrible customers.\u201d— cpj1 (@cpj1) 1686536678
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
