Tucker Carlson Confronted On Bud Light Boycott: ‘Patriots’ Drink it

“Patriots” drink Bud Light—or at least that’s what Ultimate Fighting Championship president and CEO Dana White confronted former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson with on Monday over the beer brand’s boycott.

The UFC, an American mixed martial arts organization, and Bud Light’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch, announced in October a new “multi-year marketing partnership.” The arrangement will start January 1 and will see Anheuser-Busch become the exclusive “official beer partner of UFC,” which will make Bud Light the official beer for the championship in the U.S. However, since the news of the deal, UFC and White have faced criticism on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as many fans said they would boycott the UFC because of the brand partnership due to the beer company’s previous controversy involving a collaboration with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney for a brief promotion in April.

White has since doubled down on his decision, as he appeared on The Charlie Kirk Show on October 26 to push back at conservative critics calling him a sellout. He said he admired the company’s core values, which he said align with his own.

Carlson, once among Fox News’s biggest stars and ratings draws, abruptly parted ways with the outlet in late April for reasons that remain unclear. However, Carlson has since taken to X, formerly Twitter, to continue his political commentary, often speaking on major political issues.

In an interview on Monday with The Tucker Carlson Network, White continued to reiterate his stance and back Bud Light as he told Carlson, “If you consider yourself a patriot, you should be drinking gallons of Bud Light. Gallons of Bud Light!”

Newsweek has reached out to the Tucker Carlson Network and Anheuser-Busch via email for comment.

Carlson interjected by saying, “Wait, wait. I should be boycotting Bud Light.”

However, White continued to explain how Bud Light is more aligned with Carlson, seemingly referring to Carlson’s political views as a conservative.

“You should have Bud Light drums stacked in your garage. They are way more aligned with you than these other beer companies. That, I guarantee you. Take it from someone who is in the know, who does business with beer companies. You are way more aligned with Bud Light than you are with any other beer company,” White said.

Carlson then asked about the partnership between UFC and the beer company, “They didn’t come into partnership with you by accident? They seek you out?”

In response, White said, “History has shown me with relationships that I’ve had with other beer companies, I, who lean more this way, I, who consider myself a patriot…you are way more aligned with Anheuser-Busch than you are with other beer companies.”

This comes as musician Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, also recently sat down with Carlson on Monday to speak about the boycott of Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch saying, “At the end of the day when you step back and look at it, like ‘Yeah, they deserved a black eye and they got one,’ they made a mistake.

“Yes, it was a mistake, so, do I want to hold their head underwater and drown them because they made a mistake, no, I think they got the message,” Rock said. “Hopefully other companies get it too but you know, at the end of the day, I don’t think the punishment that they’ve been getting at this point fits the crime. I would like to see people get us back on board and become bigger because that’s the America that I want to live in.

In July, Anson Frericks, the former president of operations for Anheuser-Busch, told Newsweek that the Bud Light boycott hurt the brand since it is an easily accessible product.

“Everywhere you have Bud Light, you also have Miller Lite and Coors Light…it’s incredibly easy for consumers to switch. There’s no real switching cost that’s out there,” Frericks said.