Fox Host Pushes Distraught Florida Restaurant Owner on Bud Light Controversy: ‘Why Was It The Most Difficult Period of Your Life?’

A Florida restaurant owner has stopped selling Bud Light after a marketing controversy he claims conflicted with his biblical faith.

Joe Penovich, owner of Grills restaurant in Orlando, told Fox Business Network’s Stuart Varney, “It’s been a terrible week. It’s been actually a couple of weeks now. Probably the most difficult time we’ve ever experienced in our life in this industry.”

“Why’s it the most difficult period of your life?” Varney asked.

“You know, Anheuser-Busch, they held a social knife over all of our heads here and they dropped it very irresponsibly,” Penovich said. “It threw us into turmoil. By standing by our biblical faith, it put us at odds with other people that didn’t take that stance, and that brought us into hell on earth.”

Penovich was upset over a Bud Light marketing campaign that revolved around transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Many prominent right-wing figures have disavowed the decision and publicly announced they were boycotting the brand.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Mulvaney “one of the biggest pedophiles in America,” on her Rumble podcast simply because Mulvaney is transgender. Taylor Greene referred to Mulvaney as “him” instead of using her preferred pronouns.

“This is Dylan Mulvaney. He’s an actor, and he has a very specific role that he is playing and it’s the grooming of sexualization of children,” Taylor Greene said in the now-deleted episode.

Others condemning the marketing decision include podcaster Joe Rogan, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), and musician Kid Rock, who posted a video of himself shooting a bunch of Bud Light cans with an assault rifle.

On Rosie O’Donnell’s podcast on April 11, Mulvaney called herself an “easy target.”

“The reason I think I’m an easy target is because I’m still new to this,” Mulvaney said. “I think going after a trans woman who has been doing this for 20 years is a lot more difficult. Maybe they think there’s some sort of chance with me that they can — but I mean, what is their goal?”

A host of anti-transgender bills have been passed recently in the United States, including the “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act” in the U.S. House of Representatives, which is not expected to pass the Senate. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 17 U.S. states have banned gender-affirming care for children under 18, and 15 have anti-trans laws or policies pending.

As a result of the ad campaign’s fallout, two Bud Light marketing executives have been placed on leave by Anheuser-Busch, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Watch the full clip above via Fox Business Network.