Over the weekend, right-wingers cheered after news broke that Bud Light’s vice president of marketing was taking a leave of absence from the company.
A month ago, not single conservative likely knew Bud Light Marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid’s name. Heinerscheid became the focus of their vitriol after someone on her team passed along a commemorative can to trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, sparking weeks of backlash and protests.
They’re casting Heinerscheid’s leave of absence as a win for their side.
“BREAKING: Bud Light Marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid now identifies as unemployed,” joked conservative influencer CJ Pearson.
Right-wing meme star Benny Johnson dedicated a whole segment on his show to the news, where he gleefully celebrated it and declared “VICTORY!”
“Alissa Heinerscheid has been officially let go … sayonara, see you later, you are on a leave of absence which is corporate speak for fired,” he cheered. “It’s so wonderful, because it’s rare to get a W in this position … we got it. Finally, someone has paid for Bud Light spitting in the faces of their customers and it couldn’t be a better person.”
However, one conservative influencer didn’t take too kindly to his brethren celebrating: the man trying to make money off the backlash, Seth Weathers, founder of Ultra Right Beer.
“Conservative dad ain’t happy, ” he said. Weathers called out Johnson specifically. “Conservatives just love to cave,” he said.
He noted he likes Johnson as a person, but said he just happened to make “the dumbest fucking video of them all.” Weathers believes that giving Bud Light any credit is equivalent to backing down.
“This is the reason conservatives have no institutional power,” he said, adding a number of slurs. “They can’t wait to cave to people … If this can’t be won, there is no conservative movement.”
Weathers’ stance on the matter is perhaps colored by the fact that if conservatives are no longer hating on Bud Light, his quick cash grab with Ultra Right Beer suddenly has less cache.
In the wake of the backlash over Mulvaney, Weathers launched his beer and claimed it wasn’t compromised by the “woke” agenda and would cater to conservatives who knew which bathroom to use.
But if it’s okay for conservatives to again drink Bud Light at its much, much, much cheaper price point than Ultra Right Beer, Weathers’ business model is suddenly shot. He planned to sell Ultra Right beer for $20 per six-pack, roughly twice the price of the same amount of Bud Light.
In the video, Weathers did try to address the perception that he’s driven more by profits than principles. He said he knew people would assume he was angry over his own beer sales, but denied it. “Don’t buy my beer … buy any other beer that ain’t Anheuser-Busch,” he said.
It’s not clear that Weathers even has any beer to sell. The original brewery Weathers tried to contract pulled out before he sold a single can.
Weathers pledged to announce the name of his new brewer today.
In the meantime, he’s painting his fight with Bud Light as an existential matter for the conservative movement, regards of whether he makes a profit.
“If you give up, they are going to continue shitting on us.”
