One of the dumbest culture-war issues of the past few months — and it’s a competitive category — has been the right-wing freakout over a Bud Light marketing decision. After Bud Light partnered with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney for a limited marketing campaign, plenty of right-wing types have made a big point of decrying Bud Light, to the point where Kid Rock posted a video of himself shooting a semi-automatic rifle at cases of the beer. Now, country superstar Garth Brooks has weighed in on this thing, since the decision to serve Bud Light at a bar has now been weighted with political implications.

Garth Brooks’ Friends In Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk is coming soon to Nashville’s South Broadway District; it’s under construction right now. Last week, in a Billboard Country Live Q&A, Brooks talked about his plans for the bar, and he said he’d “serve every brand of beer,” without mentioning Bud Light specifically:

I know this sounds corny, but I want it to be the Chick-Fil-A of honky-tonks down on Lower Broadway. I want it to be a place you feel safe in. I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people love one another. I think that’s a cool place. And yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer. We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this: If you come into this house, love one another. If you’re an asshole, there are plenty of other places on Lower Broadway you can go.

After that interview, various right-wing troll types, like Congressman Matt Gaetz, took shots at Garth Brooks. Last night, as Billboard reports, Brooks spoke about it on his weekly Facebook stream Inside Studio G, and he clarified that he’s always stood for “diversity” and “inclusiveness”:

Let’s address two things on it. One is diversity. Inclusiveness. That’s me. That’s always been me. We got the same kind of thing on “We Shall Be Free” — people wanting to burn our stuff. I get it. Everybody’s got their opinions. But inclusiveness is always going to be me. I think diversity is the answer to the problems that are here and the answer to the problems that are coming. So I love diversity. All included, so all are welcome. I understand that might not be other people’s opinions, but that’s OK, man. They have their opinions. They have their beliefs. I have mine.

Second thing, though: Let’s talk about being a bar owner. I’m a bar owner now. Are we going to have the most popular beers in the thing? Yes. That’s not our call if we don’t or not. It’s the patrons’ call — the bosses, right? Bring ’em in there. If they don’t want it, then I got to go to the distributor and say, “Man, your stuff’s not selling.” And then action gets taken. But the truth is, it’s those people in those seats that make those decisions, and that’s what Friends In Low Places is going to be.

So here’s the deal, man: If you want to come to Friends In Low Places, come in. Come in with love. Come in with tolerance, patience. Come in with an open mind, and it’s cool. And if you’re one of those people who just can’t do that, I get it. If you ever are one of those people who want to try, come! Let’s have some fun. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT81q6oDm/

In that video, Garth Brooks mentions “We Shall Be Free” the 1992 single where he decried racism and homophobia in the most inspirational, anodyne terms: “We shall be free when we’re free to love anyone we choose.” At the time, that was enough to generate a backlash, and it didn’t do as well at radio as every other single that Brooks was releasing at the time. Apparently, not much has changed.