ST. LOUIS (LifeSiteNews) — Beer giant Anheuser-Busch has withdrawn its sponsorship from the St. Louis “PrideFest,” marking a significant cultural swing away from corporate support for the LGBT agenda.
“Pride St. Louis” President Marty Zuniga told NBC affiliate KSDK it was informed of the decision “a couple weeks ago.”
“It was just interesting that the longest partner of ours… just decided to walk away after basically just saying that they just don’t see the value in it anymore,” he said.
Anheuser-Busch’s decision comes after 30 years of supporting the festival previously. Other sponsors have scaled back donations as well, leaving the event with a $150,000 shortfall.
The move is clearly an attempt by Anheuser-Busch to distance itself from the woke agenda and recapture its all-American image following Donald Trump’s victory last November and the slew of executive orders he has signed targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
Notably, the company faced pushback in the form of a nationwide boycott that led to a massive drop-off in sales, especially Bud Light, after a marketing campaign featuring gender-confused activist Dylan Mulvaney in 2023 backfired.
Anheuser-Busch was acquired by beverage conglomerate InBev in 2008. It had sponsored many LGBT events in recent years but seems to be willing to back off such corporate activism, as it recently announced it has stopped sponsoring the “pride” festival in San Francisco this year. Telecom giant Comcast pulled out as well, putting the event at a $300,000 disadvantage.
Anheuser-Busch is not the only corporation attempting to clean up its woke image with consumers. Target, Amazon, John Deere, McDonalds, Walmart, Tractor Supply, Lowe’s, and Toyota have all either scaled back or dropped DEI and other woke initiatives.
As reported by LifeSite’s Emily Mangiaracina, the pro-LGBT “Human Rights Campaign” and “GLSEN” (formerly the “Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network”) recently announced they are are laying off 20 percent and 60 percent of their staff, respectively. Both cited a lack of donations from corporate sponsors for the drying up of funds.
