Lakeview Bar Boycotts MillerCoors Because Higher-Up Fundraised For Trump
By Stephen Gossett in Food on Dec 1, 2016 8:12PM
Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson
Maybe this will spearhead the reverse #DumpKellogs of booze in Chicago.
A much-loved North Side bar announced on Wednesday it will no longer stock MillerCoors drinks to protest the company’s bedfellows with the president-elect.
Pete Coors, a board member on a MillerCoors subsidiary, co-hosted a fundraiser for Trump this summer. Even though the event happened a few months back, the Green Lady, a popular beer-centric bar in Lakeview, is saying it’s better to boycott late than never.
“This is news from back in June,” stated the announcement on Facebook, in reference to the GOP benefit, “but it's important to keep in mind in the post-election landscape.”
According to the post, the bar is selling all leftover cases of Miller Lite and Miller High Life for $6 a bottle. In accordance with our favorite charitable jest, the bar will donate profits to Planned Parenthood in Veep-elect and women’s-health knuckle dragger Mike Pence’s name.
The Tribune caught up with bar owner Melani Domingues, who said she made the move in part be a role model for her young daughter:
"I’m not trying to judge anyone for what they do, but as a publican and a citizen, this is how I can stand up and be counted and model behavior for my 5-year-old girl. I’ve been struggling over the last few weeks with what to say to her when she asks how can so many people vote for someone so mean. I say that a lot of people are trying to figure that out."
MillerCoors responded that Pete Coors’ support of Trump should be considered as the action of one individual, separate from the company as a whole, and that a boycott hurts other employees who may not share his views:
"Neither MillerCoors nor Molson Coors takes a position on Presidential races. Whomever our employees choose to support is their business, not ours. As a citizen, Pete Coors exercised his right to personally support the nominee of his political party. We respect Pete’s right to support any candidate in the same way we support that same right for any of our employees. MillerCoors is made-up of 8,100 hard-working beer people who rely on their jobs to provide for their families. Calling for a boycott of our brands only harms them and the hundreds of businesses across the country, large and small, which we are proud to call our partners."
Josh Noel of the Tribune, who first reported the story, notes that 5 Rabbit Cerveceria and Spiteful Brewing have made similar ant-Trump moves over the last year and a half.
The Green Lady's boycott-announcement post is embedded below. We'll let you crack your own jokes about banning Miller products on grounds of bad taste in our comments section.