Garth may have thought he was staying out of the Bud Light controversy. But it looks like he just threw himself in the middle of it.
Of course by now everybody’s familiar with the controversy and backlash surrounding Bud Light’s decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a few months ago. The company has since faced boycotts that have caused billions of dollars in losses, and even threaten the beer’s place at the top of the year-end list of best selling beers.
And Garth Brooks, who has a new bar coming to Nashville soon, weighed in this week on some of his fellow bar owners like John Rich and Kid Rock, who have blasted Bud Light – with Rich even removing it from his lower Broadway bar, Redneck Riviera.
In a Q&A session as part of Billboard’s Country Live in Conversation, Garth explained that his bar would not be removing Bud Light from the menu – and appeared to take a shot at those boycotting the iconic beer brand:
“Yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make.
If you come into this house, love one another. If you’re an a**hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
He continued by reiterating that he hopes his bar helps make Broadway “a country music mall” as opposed to a zoo (although if you’ve been to Broadway lately, you know that it might be too late for that).
“In my existence, one a**hole can turn the whole tide down there. My thing is, let’s create a place that you feel safe in.”
Well Garth’s comments (which were first reported right here on Whiskey Riff) haven’t gone over well on Twitter, with those who support the boycott taking offense at Garth seemingly calling them “a**holes.”
See Garth? If you really wanted to stay out of it you should have just kept quiet.
Five New Chris Gaines Albums On The Way
The world’s greatest rock legend is coming back.
If you’re not familiar with the Garth Brooks alter-ego Chris Gaines, I don’t know what to tell you at this point but you’re missing out on one of the most bizarre, intriguing, downright wild things a superstar has ever done.
It was all supposed to be based around a movie in which Garth would star as fictional rocker Chris Gaines, a sex-addicted rock legend who nearly had his face ripped off in a car crash and had an affair with his manager that caused him to lose his house.
Like I said, it’s some weird sh*t.
To promote the movie, a Chris Gaines “greatest hits” album was released by Garth’s alter-ego, and there was also a VH1 Behind the Music special that told the rocker’s troubled life story.
(If you haven’t watched the whole thing, it’s well worth your time).
But ultimately, the Chris Gaines movie never happened, and the whole incident became just a bizarre footnote in Garth’s otherwise wildly successful career.
Garth has even joked that he still gets beat up for the Chris Gaines era of his career:
“A lot of people misunderstood it, and my ribs are still sore from getting the sh*t kicked out of me for it.”
Well apparently Garth isn’t QUITE finished with Chris Gaines yet.
During a Q&A today as part of as part of Billboard’s Country Live in Conversation, Garth said that there’s more Chris Gaines music on his to-do list: Five albums, to be exact.
When asked about where the songs from the “greatest hits” album came from, Garth responded that they were from the five fictional previous albums that this fictional rocker had released in this fictional world:
“Yeah, there’s five of them.
The five albums have to come out.”
But it doesn’t sound like we can expect them any time soon:
“I don’t know if it’s just because I’m 114, but now everything takes three hours more than it took time to do before. Business-wise I’ll say I’ve never been this busy before in my life, and I’m not as in the eye of the public as I was.
So I think what it’s telling me as an older artist, you have to work a lot, lot, lot – not work, put in more time – to get the same results. So the Gaines project was a lot of time put in because it’s not natural. You’re acting on record.
But I want to do it just simply for the people who love the Gaines project. Selfishly, I love the Chris Gaines record.
So I want to do it for me.”
And he confirmed that his to-do list includes all five of those “previous” Chris Gaines albums:
“I don’t know when we’re going to get to it, but it’s on the list and hopefully we’ll get it done. Five albums.”
Sign. Me. Up.
