Charles Barkley Sparks MAGA Backlash After Impassioned Bud Light Defense

NBA icon Charles Barkley's passionate support of the LGBTQ+ community and support for Bud Light has sparked a MAGA backlash.

Barkley showed his support for the under-fire Anheuser-Busch beer during Nevada's American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course on Saturday.

The basketball analyst appeared on stage at the event earlier this week and implored attendees to drink Bud Light as the boycott following the company's decision to partner with transgender activist and influencer Dylan Mulvaney continues.

Speaking to the crowd, Barkley said: "I want y'all to drink this ******* beer. I want y'all to drink this ******* beer. I got three cases of Bud Light."

"If you're gay, bless you. If you're transgender, bless you. And if you have a problem with that, **** you," he said to cheers from the crowd.

Barkley's comments went viral on social media after first being uploaded to TikTok by Lana Monashkin and attracted more than 796,300 comments before being shared across other platforms.

The former NBA All-Star has been a long-time advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and publicly supported gay marriage in 2006.

While Barkley's comments were met with praise online by pro-LGBTQ supporters, there were a large number of MAGA supporters who reacted angrily.

Shawn Wood, who has more than 6,400 followers, tweeted: "If You Have A Problem With That, F You' she says. Well, F you too, times infinit."

Righteous Crusader, with 23,400 followers, added: "Charles Barkley cares nothing about the Bud Light controversy, he's a businessman who sees an opportunity and the only principle he has is money. There's a reason he's always talking about generational wealth."

Barkley did receive some support from other quarters, with actor Billy Baldwin tweeting his statements on gay and trans people. The post has been viewed more than 450,000 times.

Musician Ricky Davila simply wrote: "Damn right!"

Bud Light has found itself at the center of the ongoing debate over transgender and gay rights in the U.S.

The backlash over the company's decision to partner with Mulvaney led to a devastating fall in Bud Light sales.

Sales data provided to Newsweek by Bump Williams Consulting from Nielsen IQ in July showed that there was a 28 percent decline in sales for the week ending on July 1 when compared to the same week in 2002.

Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks explained why he believed the Mulvaney campaign had such a negative effect.

He previously told Newsweek: "Anheuser-Busch did not understand their customer base and kind of also where their customer base is, in terms of what messaging they want to see from Bud Light."

Newsweek contacted Anheuser-Busch for comment via email on Sunday.

Correction: 7/23/23, 10:15 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to correctly cite the original TikTok account which first posted Barkley's video.