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Claytoonz: Hold my trans beer
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Claytoonz: Hold my trans beer

Right after Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender actress, activist, and social media influencer (that means I don’t know who she is because I’m old) posted a video on Instagram announcing a partnership with Bud Light, Kid Rock went on a tangent, shot a bunch of beer cans, then went on his “No Snowflakes tour.” Yes, I see the irony, thank you. Kid Rock does not.

Kid, who’s 52 and used to sing about being a pimp “smacking all the hos,” posted a video on Twitter of him shooting the trans cans while wearing a backward MAGA cap. Backward is quite appropriate. In the video, he says, “Let me say something to all of you and be as clear and concise as possible.” He then shoots several cans with his boomstick, and finishes his statement, “Fuck Bud Light. Fuck Anheuser Busch.”

Maybe Kid Rock isn’t really upset but was actually just trying to find an old photo of himself drinking a Bud Light with a drag queen, because if you can’t find an old photo of yourself drinking Bud Light with a drag queen, a sure way to find it would be to post a video of yourself shooting at Bud Light cans because you’re upset over the company partnering with a trans person and voilà, someone will find and tweet that old photo of you enjoying a Bud Light with a drag queen.

By the way, here’s an old photo of Kid Rock drinking a Bud Light with a drag queen. Someone has a lot of explaining to do but we haven’t heard it yet from Wanda the Drag Queen, who had lousy taste in company and alcoholic beverages in 2003.

Today in Florida, a drag queen might have a difficult time enjoying a Bud Light or any alcoholic beverage where she’s performing, as Ron DeSantis has made it a mission to personally revoke liquor licenses from establishments that host drag shows where children are allowed. Personally, I have a much greater issue with children being allowed in bars than I do with them seeing drag shows.

DeSantis is a bigger bigot than Kid Rock and I say this because Rob Ritchie (Kid Rock) may be faking it for his audience (this is a guy who panders to the point of drinking a Bud Light while wearing a Coors hat) where as Puddin’ Fingers is the real deal. DeSantis has banned the word “gay” in public schools, has banned gender-affirming care, has gone on rants and tirades about men in women’s sports, and is scared of drag queens. His lead is being followed in every red state in the country. Even in blue states, Republicans are trying to push through homophobic and transphobic legislation. Even if it fails, it solidifies their bigotry to their base almost as well as shooting trans beer cans.

I don’t see why homophobic fucknuts like Kid Rock and Travis Tritt (yeah, he’s upset too) are angry over Bud Light being associated with a transgender person. It’s not like they’re bailing on their sponsorships in the NBA, NFL, and oh my God, even NASCAR. How much more redneck do you get than sponsoring NASCAR? Yeah, sure. NASCAR won’t let you fly the hater flag or allow nooses at the track anymore, but it’s still a Bubba sport. Even the only black guy is named “Bubba.” Heck, Bud Light is still the beer mentioned in Billy Currington’s “Pretty Good at Drinking Beer” which if you’ve ever heard once, is now stuck in your head until next Tuesday.

Despite its country music and Talladega street cred, Bud Light is scared, Brendan Whitworth, the chief executive of Anheuser-Busch, issued an apology that we think is probably about the sponsorship with Mulvaney.

He tweeted a statement saying, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.” That was a pissy apology in order to keep selling watered-down pissy beer.

Nobody should have to apologize for being tolerant. Nobody should cower and cave into the bigoted likes of Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Travis Tritt, or Kid Rock. You don’t end hate by caving in and enabling it. Dividing people by being inclusive is like when Facebook (and all the others) accuses me of hate when I criticize Nazis (they do that).

And to all my right-wing homophobic colleagues who’ve been drawing on this issue over the past two weeks, if you’ve drawn more than one cartoon on this, then it’s time for you to come out of the closest.

Clay Jones is the 2022 recipient of the RFK Human Rights Journalism Award in Editorial Cartooning, and won a 2021 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists. He was a finalist for the Herblock Prize in 2019 and a finalist for the National Headliner Award in 2020. See more award-winning editorial cartoons from him at Claytoonz.com.

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drag, kid rock, lgbtq, ron desantis

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