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‘I f*cked up’ — Stone Brewing boss forced to apologise twice after consent tweet went viral
A US brewery has been forced to apologise twice after one of its tweets — intending to be about beer — sparked outrage for an innuendo suggesting that “only wussies ask for consent.”
Beer (Photo: Wiki)
Arrogant Bastard — the somewhat ironically-named Californian brand from Stone Brewing Co., posted a joke on the social network earlier this week providing detailed instructions on how to “wash away the ordinariness of your day.”
Hi @StoneBrewing @StoneGreg – I know your @ArrogantBastard branding is supposed to be cheeky/mean/macho, but I am dissapointed and troubled to see this type of joking about consent. pic.twitter.com/GuqXYvpA3r
— Carla Jean Lauter (@beerbabe) February 28, 2018
It read: “Put me in your mouth, make an ‘mmm’ sound, swallow. Express appreciation and ask permission to do it again.
“Hint: only wussies do the ‘ask permission’ part.”
The tweet, which has since been deleted, was picked up by US beer writer Carla Jean Lauter, after which it quickly went viral in the brewing world.
“I know your @ArrogantBastard branding is supposed to be cheeky/mean/macho,” she said, “but I am dissapointed and troubled to see this type of joking about consent.”
Arrogant Bastard was quick to respond to the feedback, posting another tweet which said the beer brand “can acknowledge a bad move.”
In another tweet, the brewery said it was “seriously gutted” that the flippant reference to beer was associated with “a much wider and problematic issue in our society.”
“I fucked up,” it added. “No other way about it. I’m as red as it gets. I couldn’t possibly be more sincere about that.”
But many fans of the drinks maker were unimpressed by the apology.
Columnist Robin LeBlanc called the joke “utterly shameful and dumb. And I call bullsh*t on intent. The person knew exactly what it sounded like.”
Now, Arrogant Bastard’s msifire has already had business repercussions. Block & Bottle, a butcher and craft beer shop in Gateshead, UK, announced yesterday it has cancelled a planned tap takeover with Stone Brewing “in light of last night’s tweet.”
In light of last nights tweet by @ArrogantBastard, we have decided to cancel next Thursday’s @StoneBrewingUK tap takeover. We have taken this decision as we are not happy promoting any brewery which condones a culture rape and sexual violence.
— Block & Bottle (@BlocknBottle) March 1, 2018
“We have taken this decision as we are not happy promoting any brewery which condones a culture rape and sexual violence,” it added.
Responding to the fallout from the joke, Stone Brewing co-founder Greg Kich posted a statement on Arrogant’s Twitter page, apologising again for the “inappropriate tweet: and insisting that neither Stone nor Arrogant “condone sexual violence or misogyny in any way.”
A message from Executive Chairman & co-founder Greg Koch: pic.twitter.com/L4LTKuFZl2
— Arrogant Bastard (@ArrogantBastard) March 2, 2018
“For the forseeable future,” he added, “a female member of the company will be handling all tweets from Arrogant Bastard, effective immediately.”
The Twitter spat comes after dozens of craft brewers have been called out for discrimination and sexist marketing in recent months, leading industry bodies such as the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Portman Group, and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) to launch their own panel discussions and revised Codes of Practice to address the issue.
Get a grip and lighten up. Can this be interpreted as being sexist or implying that consent is not needed? Sure, if your mind is both in the gutter and you are looking for any possible reason to become indignant and pissed off. So now GK has to apologize for what was not meant to be offensive because of these politically correct morons who are busily screwing up the world. What the hell is wrong with you people. What ever happened to a sense of tolerance and humor? Seriously, Mr. Koch would never have posted this with what some people are implying his intent was. He is not that kind of a guy.
From the same Brewery that attacked Trump with Impeach IPA, comes more Liberal hypocrisy and pandering. The part of zero values, when it counts.
as a more liberal translation of honi mal qui mal y pense :
bad is the person who thinks bad about it 🙂
Fred Ektari – yes, it is very sexist and very aggressive, it is offensive to all women who have had to go through any form of threatening sexual behavior. That’s not you, right? So…your position to make a comment on it? None, that I can see. Also; “…if your mind is both in the gutter and you are looking for any possible reason to become indignant and pissed off. ” do you not see the irony of you posting and indignant and pissed of post about people doing the same? And they say satire is dead…
Nathan Lee – Is rape normal where you live or where Stone comes from? If not, where is the hypocrisy/pandering? Do you know the definition of those words? Your post would suggest otherwise.
Marvin Adams – “Hint: only wussies do the ‘ask permission’ part.” What about that sentence, in combination with the rest of the post, is not a painfully/embarrassingly obvious reference to rape? I can’t come up with one, so I’d love to hear your reply.