Police in Ontario suspect a couple was attacked outside a liquor store last weekend because they had bought Bud Light.
According to York Regional Police, a couple had just left a liquor store in Vaughn when they were accosted by a group. The woman is said to have moved in between the two people and was assaulted after one of the group members got into an altercation with the man who had just left the store. The assault continued as the man was subsequently knocked to the ground.
The reason for the attack, according to police, is crystal evident.
“One of the suspects commented on the male victim’s choice of alcohol and uttered anti-homosexual derogatory slurs as he approached the victim,” the police department said in a news release issued following the incident.
Help us identify this suspect and two others sought for a possible hate-motivated assault that occurred outside a liquor store in the area of Jane St. and Major Mackenzie Dr. W. in Vaughan on Sat., May 6th, 2023, around 8:30 p.m.
More information here: https://t.co/OMRZF9vmi9 pic.twitter.com/p9LtIrfuB7
— York Regional Police (@YRP) May 9, 2023
The police department noticed that the pair had really bought rainbow-themed beer cans rather than Bud Light, which is a political symbol for the LGTB+ community.
The male merely had minor symptoms and did not need medical attention, while the woman was hospitalized for her injuries.
Since the business signed a sponsorship deal with transgender social media influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney earlier this year, Bud Light has come under fire from transphobic, right-wing political actors and their fans. According to the conditions of the sponsorship, Ms. Mulvaney was going to be featured on a special beverage can.
The Bud Light brand’s parent business, Anheuser-Busch InBev, later gave leaves of absence to the advertising executives who oversaw Ms. Mulvaney’s relationship with the company.
However, that measure did not seem to appease all of Bud Light’s detractors, as some of them made the decision to boycott the beverage in protest of what they perceived to be its support for transgender people.
Although the assault investigation has not yet resulted in any arrests, York Regional Police have issued pictures of two suspects and are requesting assistance from onlookers who witnessed the assault.
“It is believed there was a crowd of people nearby at the time of this incident,” the police department said in a statement reported by Global News. “Any witnesses who have not yet spoken to investigators are asked to come forward.”
Ms. Mulvaney stated that it has been challenging to cope with the turmoil around the Bud Light contract in an interview with HuffPost in late April.
“I’ve always tried to love everyone, even the people that make it really, really hard, and I think it’s OK to be frustrated with someone or confused,” Ms Mulvaney said. “But what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history ever.”
