Some Garth Brooks fans are ready to disavow their affections for the singer. Their objections come from Garth’s new Tennessee-based establishment, Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk. Its drink menu, Garth announced, will include every brand of beer, including the much-talked-about Bud Light.
61-year-old Garth is soon opening up his bar in Nashville‘s South Broadway District and it will be guided by one of his biggest rules: anyone who visits the bar, “love one another.” However, Bud Light has been in the spotlight as the target of a lot of hate and love. Its Instagram page has sponsored trans activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney, leading to a backlash against the drink and its parent company Anheuser-Busch. Here is Garth’s view on the matter.
Garth Brooks explains what to expect at Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk
Speaking with Billboard during a Wednesday Country Live panel, Garth shared his vision for his upcoming bar. “I know this sounds corny,” said Garth, “I want it to be the Chick-fil-A of honky-tonks … 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 added, “And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. 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.”
A budding resentment
Bar ownership as a music artist is not something only Garth Brooks has pursued, but he is taking a unique stance on the Bud Light debate. Kid Rock and John Rich also own bars and they exiled Bud Light from their respective Nashville establishments, ever since the brand partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
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Former Garth Brooks fans, meanwhile, are ready to exile his music from their libraries. “Patriots I threw out my Garth Brooks music collection,” one individual posted on social media. Others prepared to “throw out his records” and “never attend another one of his concerts.”
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On the other side, however, other fans were appreciative of Garth’s stance. “It’s something that we love about Garth,” one fan praised. “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.”
Others still tread a neutral ground. “If Garth is serving Bud Light in his bar, that’s fine. Garth can do that,” one user reasoned, adding, “Garth might find out not many people are going to order it. 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.”
Garth’s half-sister, Betsy Smittle, was a gay rights activist who performed at multiple gay rights events. Together, they composed 1993’s “We Shall Be Free” as an anthem to the fight for civil liberties and equality.
.@GarthBrooks is supporting the #LGBT community.
Love him for this.
He's not mincing words or straddling the fence on his support.https://t.co/W2FVXypoji
— Michael J. Stern (@MichaelJStern1) June 11, 2023