Popular Florida Restaurant Bans Bud Light, Citing 'Biblical Faith'
Popular Florida restaurant Grills Seafood, which has locations in Orlando, Melbourne and Port Canaveral, has severed ties with Bud Light amid the Dylan Mulvaney fallout.
In a lengthy Facebook post on the restaurant's official page, owner Joe Penovich cited his "biblical faith" as the main reason it will no longer sell Bud Light. Grills first opened in 1997.
“It is true we made the decision to remove Bud Light because of their support of something that is in direct opposition to our Biblical faith,” Penovich wrote. “There is no judgement in our heart concerning those who believe in these rapidly changing social values.
“But there is a lie being levied that we and other Christians hate Dylan Mulvaney and the gay community. Nothing could be further from the truth in our hearts and minds. Our decision was made with many tears for this circumstance and what we see as corporate greed and a deeper spiritual reality coming upon this world.”
Bud Light banned at Florida restaurant over Dylan Mulvaney
The post has gone viral since first going up Monday, with over 1,000 comments -- mostly supporting the decision.
We're now well into Week No. 3 of the Bud Light/Mulvaney saga, and the fallout continues to be steady. Kid Rock got the ball rolling earlier this month when he flung a couple cases of the popular beer into the lake, and several country artists have since followed suit.
Meanwhile, several Wyoming bars reported a steep decline in Bud Light sales last week, while stock reports indicated a cool $5 billion loss for Anheuser-Busch. Last Friday, Yuengling appeared to take a subtle jab at AB in a now-viral tweet that came minutes after the company released a lukewarm statement.
Grills' decision over the weekend is just the latest shoe to drop, and Monday's post was initially in response to a claim that workers at the restaurant called Bud Light “fa***t beer.” Penovich strongly denied that.
“This was posted on a personal FB account that has since been deleted but continues to be recycled by outlets with differing views than ours,” he wrote. “I have requested to meet with this individual to discuss these serious allegations and asked for a specific time and location on our property he heard and witnessed these things in order to review security camera footage.”
Penovich concluded by saying he planned to write a letter to Anheuser-Busch's corporate headquarters, which he will make available to the public.
“We are prayerfully asking God how to separate from corporations such as Anheuser-Bush that are promoting and attempting to profit from this experiment," he added.