'The Bud Light treatment': Burger King faces boycott for pulling ads from Rumble over Russell Brand allegations



Burger King is facing calls for a boycott after the burger chain stopped advertising on Rumble over controversy involving Russell Brand.

On Friday, the News Movement reported that several big-dollar brands pulled advertisements from Rumble — including Burger King, HelloFresh, and Asos — because the company chose not to demonetize Brand, who is facing accusations of sexual assault.

The companies appeared to take action after the news outlet informed the companies that their ads were appearing on Brand's Rumble content.

"Burger King has paused all advertising on the channel while investigations into the allegations are ongoing," Burger King told the News Movement.

The decision to pull advertisements led to outrage on social media and demands for a Burger King boycott.

  • "Burger King has pulled its ads from Rumble because the free speech platform refuses to play judge, jury, and executioner of Russell Brand after the UK Governor demanded the platform demonetize him. Reminder, Brand has not been convicted of a single crime.Boycott @BurgerKing. They hate free speech and due process, and their food is poison anyways. Stop eating it," activist Charlie Kirk said.
  • "That includes @BurgerKing for those of you who care to know[.] Maybe eat at the other placeFor a while," Dr. Jordan Peterson said.
  • "Burger King wants you to 'have it your way.' Who knew their 'way' was wokeism, censorship & cancel culture. Their burgers are shit any way. Spend your money wisely," Dan Bongino said.
  • "Burger King checks all of the boxes for a good boycott target: - Socially-consumed good (shameable) - Fungible good, low-cost to switch - Soulless capitalistic entity that would be terrified of being frozen and polarized[.] Kings don't let people eat at the King," another person wrote on X.
  • "Boycott Burger King, HelloFresh, and Asos," another person said.
  • "I boycotted @BurgerKing when they mocked God. If you didn’t boycott them then, boycott them now. There’s way better fast food burgers, like In & Out," one person said.
  • "Burger King believes in censorship. Never liked the whole King idea ever. Let’s get rid of 'royalty,'" another person said.
  • "Looks like @BurgerKing wants the Bud Light treatment," one person observed.

TheBlaze has reached out to Burger King for clarification about its decision. The company did not respond by press time.

The decision by some companies to pause advertising comes after Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski refused to "join a cancel culture mob" and demonetize Brand.

Pavlovski was forced to speak out after the British House of Commons' Culture, Media, and Sport Committee wrote to Rumble asking if the online video platform planned to allow Brand to continue to monetize his videos after YouTube demonetized him. Spotify also refused to remove Brand's podcast from its platform.

On Monday, the Metropolitan Police in London confirmed investigators have opened a formal investigation into the allegations against Brand.

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Burger King mocks Chick-fil-A in tweet announcing pro-LGBTQ campaign for Pride Month — and the backlash is brutal



By the end of June, Chick-fil-A just might be thanking Burger King for mocking the chicken sandwich giant.

What happened?

Burger King in a tweet last Thursday said it's making a donation to the Human Rights Campaign — a prominent pro-LGBTQ group — for every Ch'King sandwich sold.

Burger King added that the campaign runs through Pride Month and "even on Sundays" — a not-so-subtle rip at Chick-fil-A's long-standing policy of staying closed that day, which reflects the Christian values of Chick-fil-A's founding family.

the #ChKing says LGBTQ+ rights! during #pride month (even on Sundays 👀) your chicken sandwich craving can do good… https://t.co/GAbV6n9zO1

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) 1622768521.0

Burger King added a tweet saying 40 cents of every Ch'King sold will go the HRC and cap with a maximum donation of $250,000.

"This is a community we love dearly and have proudly supported over the years, so we couldn't miss an opportunity to take action and help shine a light on the important conversation happening," a Burger King spokesperson said in statement to USA Today.

The paper added that efforts to boycott Chick-fil-A have recently heated up, and it cited a Daily Beast story that identifies Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy as a donor to the National Christian Charitable Foundation, which reportedly is trying to derail the pro-LGBTQ Equality Act.

How did folks react?

A number of Twitter users were more than a little annoyed at Burger King's announcement — and particularly its mockery of Chick-fil-A:

  • "Since you felt the need to openly show your support to that I'm openly denouncing eating at your chain for the entire month of June!!!" one commenter said. "People don't have to agree with [the] LGBTQ lifestyle or support it. So keep your chicken sandwich!!! I stand with @ChickfilA."
  • "So, While @BurgerKing is respecting LGBTQ+ rights, they are simultaneously disparaging the holy day of over 2 billion Christians around the world," a user observed. "Bet they wouldn't do that to other religious groups."
  • '1st off, the reason why Chick-fil-A isn't open on Sundays is because of the Sabbath, and they want employees to spend time with their family. 2nd you wouldn't have made this tweet if Chick-fil-A was a Muslim establishment. 3rd BK Chicken sandwiches can't touch Chick-fil-A sandwiches," another commenter declared.
  • "I can't remember the last time I ate your salty, fatty 'food,' but this guarantees I never will again," another user announced.
  • "10 of your crap stores don't do the sales of ONE Chick-fil-A. Keep up the nonsense," another user said. "How about making decent food and shutting your mouth?"
  • "I [support] the freedom to be who you are sexually, gender, or color, but since you chose to get in the middle of politics you just lost a customer," another commenter told Burger King, before asking, "Have you looked at the [Chick-fil-A] lines at noon vs BK? #wokebroke."
  • 'I order two Chick-fil-A sandwiches on Saturday. I save one, and then I eat a cold one on Sunday," another user told Burger King. "Still 100x than your garbage."

Others pointed out that Burger King's campaign is nothing more than a marketing ploy — and that if it really supported the LBGTQ community, it would donate a lot more money.

And who can blame commenters who pointed out some recent Burger King missteps?

Image source: Twitter

Image source: Twitter

Anything else?

In November 2019, Chick-fil-A announced it would no longer donate to the Salvation Army or other groups that some deem "anti-LGBTQ" — and some serious backlash resulted.

A couple of months later Cathy said he regretted "discrediting" faith-based organizations by cutting charitable donations to them.