Zach Bryan and Travis Tritt have apparently had an “eye to eye” chat in response to a Twitter exchange about Bud Light’s recent promotion with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. When the promotion first occurred in early April, Tritt tweeted, “I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same.” (Tritt also got pissy about a Jack Daniels ad featuring a few Ru Paul’s Drag Race alums.)
On April 7, Bryan tweeted a message promoting inclusivity: “I mean no disrespect to anyone specifically, I don’t even mind @travistritt. I just think insulting transgender people is completely wrong because we live in a country where we can all just be who we want to be. It’s a great day to be alive I thought.”
Bryan added: “I just have family transitioning and have blood to defend here. No one threaten me pls” and “I’m on no one’s side ol sons, I love God and my family and don’t like when people are being insulted. We’re all just doing our best, hope everyone can relax someday soon.” He later responded to pushback from Tritt fans: “Absolutely terrifying that saying ‘insulting others is wrong’ is reason enough for people to get so evil so quick.”
Tritt, who is 60, soon caught wind of the situation and tweeted directly at Bryan (27): “Zach, been trying to reach out to you through your manager. Since we are both playing the Two Step Inn Festival in Georgetown, TX this Saturday, I was hoping we could chat in person. I will be there all day on Saturday.”
Well, apparently the two did meet at the festival and got a chance to talk it out. “@Travistritt and me talked for an hour and a half last night, eye to eye. It was nice to meet an old legend,” Bryan wrote on Sunday. “We disagree on some things and agree on some things and it seems the world did not end. My dad almost cried at his set. Can everyone stop being so weird.”
A civilized conversation between two country singers is a considerably better outcome in all of this than, say, hate-inspired Bud Light reactions from right-wing musicians Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. (Kid Rock responded to Mulvaney’s ad by shooting up a few cases of Bud Light, and Nugent hopped on Newsmax to spout some transphobic nonsense.) “So glad we had a chance to chat, Zach,” Tritt responded. “Ever better to discover that we have so much common ground.”
93