Grills Seafood pulls Bud Light from all locations over trans sponsorship

Local restaurant chainlet Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar has ceased serving Bud Light at all three of its Orlando locations — though some employees and the owner give differing accounts of why that is.

As widely reported in the past weeks, Anheuser-Busch is experiencing backlash for its work with trans activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Anheuser-Busch sponsored a Bud Light March Madness giveaway which Mulvaney promoted on her Instagram Story; the company made some special swag — one tallboy can with her face on it — that it sent to Mulvaney (not available to the general public). Because it's 2023, gender panic ensued. 

The Space Coast Rocket reported over the weekend that the Melbourne and Cape Canaveral locations were no longer serving Bud Light, after seeing "several" social media posts from patrons and confirming the ban with the restaurants.

Their story added, "One customer posted on social media yesterday that he witnessed the staff at the Cape location throwing away all of their Bud Light and setting the kegs out in the sun to spoil so that they can claim credit for the bad beer. He also states that he heard the manager state 'We don’t serve faggot beer.'"

So, that's apparently the Space Coast locations' reason to pull it.


Local food blogger Ricky Ly of Tastychomps reported Tuesday that the Orlando location has also pulled the product. Orlando Weekly called as well, and the manager confirmed to us that the Orlando restaurant is no longer serving Bud Light, emphasizing that this was a decision made by owner Joe Penovich.

So, what's his reason? He's glad you asked, because he has published yet another of his epic Facebook posts on the matter. (You may remember Penovich from 2021, when we reported that he had said God told him not to take the COVID vaccine.)

First of all, he wants us to know that it's definitely not the reason reported above. And also, "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 [but] There is no judgement in our heart concerning those who believe in these rapidly changing social values."

However: "We believe transgenderism is a social experiment causing irreversible damage to a growing population of younger and younger children. We will not align with it in any way."

Oh, OK then. So, they must have a different dictionary than we do, because that is pretty much the definition of judgmental.

Here's the full letter on how Grills is "prayerfully asking God how to separate from corporations such as Anheuser-Bush that are promoting and attempting to profit from this experiment."  ("experiment" = people's lives, BTW.)