Garth Brooks Says He'll Sell Bud Light at His Nashville Bar: 'I Want It to Be a Place You Feel Safe In'

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"If you're an assh---, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway," Brooks recently said after transphobic backlash against Bud Light's recent ad campaign

<p>getty (2)</p> Garth Brooks; Bud Light

getty (2)

Garth Brooks; Bud Light

Controversy isn't keeping Garth Brooks from selling Bud Light at his Nashville bar.

During a panel at Billboard Country Live during CMA Fest in Nashville last week, the singer-songwriter made the claim after the beverage brand received transphobic backlash for its social media partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

“I want it to be a place you feel safe in. I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another," said Brooks, 61, of his Friends in Low Places Bar and Honky-Tonk, which opens to the public soon. "And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are."

Related: TikTok Star Dylan Mulvaney on Dating as a Trans Woman: &#39;I Get a Do-Over&#39;

<p>Trevor George</p> Garth Brooks

Trevor George

Garth Brooks

“It’s not our decision to make," he added, before offering advice to any potential patrons: "Our thing is this: If you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an assh---, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”

Bud Light recently ran an ad campaign that featured Mulvaney, 26, who's notably documented her gender transition online. The partnership garnered transphobic backlash from right-wing consumers and celebrities, with country star Travis Tritt claiming he's "deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider."

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth reportedly issued a statement to several outlets, noting that the brand “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”

Related: Garth Brooks Is Opening a Nashville Bar Named After His Song &#39;Friends in Low Places&#39;

<p>Dominik Bindl/Getty</p> Dylan Mulvaney

Dominik Bindl/Getty

Dylan Mulvaney

Mulvaney responded to the backlash in a social media video, saying in part, "Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history ever."

Brooks recently spoke about feeling "excited" to open his bar and teased what fans can expect from the new establishment on his Inside Studio G Facebook Live.

"If you're going to open a bar, you're going to want to bring something that people go 'Now, you've been to Nashville,'" he said in the livestream.

Related: Zach Bryan and Travis Tritt Settle Online Feud over Bud Light Trans-Inclusive Ad: &#39;The World Did Not End&#39;

Garth Brooks/Instagram, Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks/Instagram, Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Garth Brooks

"I think it was also somebody's idea on here…to open a bar in Nashville," he said, referring to the platform in which he interacts with fans. "And so now here it comes. We got the first look at what the Friends in Low Places logo looks like. But I can't wait to see merchandise with this on it."

In March, he shared the vision with CMT. "It's a classic honky-tonk," he told the outlet. "It's what I grew up in. It's a bar along one wall, a bar along the other wall, and the rest is just space to dance or whatever you want to do."

He added that he hopes the bar is a destination for country music fans. "I'm hoping this place is a thumpin' place that always looks like something is going crazy in there. I like that," he explained. "But when you walk in, I hope it's country music that you hear."

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