During a recent visit to Yuengling Brewery, Donald Trump’s son Eric met with the billionaire owner behind the brand — and inadvertently made the beer a lightning rod in a culture war.
As reported by Pennsylvania’s Reading Eagle paper, during Trump’s tour of the facilities, owner Dick Yuengling took a moment to publicly endorse Eric’s father for the presidency. “Our guys are behind your father. We need him in there,” Yuengling said.
The endorsement resulted in a backlash on Twitter as many vowed to boycott the Pennsylvania-based beer producer.
Democratic state representative and openly gay LGBT advocate, Brian Sims, criticized Yuengling in a Facebook post on Wednesday, calling for local gay bars to boycott Yuengling beer.
“Our communities know a thing or two about voting with our dollars and I won’t be using my hard-earned dollars to give power to any company or person who hates me, what about you,” Sims’ post read.
In an interview with Forbes in May, Yuengling spoke about his company, framing his concerns about the election in terms of taxes.
“I’m the owner of the oldest brewery in the country,” he said. “I’m trying to compete with Anheuser-Busch, which is owned by Belgians, and I’m sure the tax they pay is far less than the percentage we pay in the United States. How do you compete?”
