Country Singer Defends Miller Lite Amid Boycott Calls

Country singer Alexandra Kay has celebrated her collaboration with Miller Lite, amid calls for a boycott of the beer brand over its ad campaign released in March.

The 31-year-old is embarking on a national tour called Dive Bar Dreamer Tour which has been sponsored by Miller Lite.

But the brand has come under fire for an advertisement it released starring Broad City actress Ilana Glazer that celebrated women beermakers.

Critics accused Miller Lite of a "woke" advertising campaign for Women's History Month which showed Glazer talking about women's role in beer brewing. The brand rebuked itself in the ad for some of its older marketing campaigns that showed scantily-clad women in provocative poses.

The company labeled the older ads as "sexist" and "outdated" and said it would be buying back its vintage advertising material to turn into fertilizer for female farmers to produce over 1,000 pounds of hops. Those hops would then be given to 200 female brewers to make around 330,000 beers.

"It's time beer made it up to women," Glazer says in the advertisement.

While the ad debuted in March, its critics picked up on it recently after Bud Light faced nationwide boycotts for partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

Conservatives slammed the ad as "woke" and called for a boycott of Miller Lite.

"Miller Lite saw the Bud Light disaster and decided they needed their own woke beer ad," wrote radio host Clay Travis on Twitter.

While Graham Allen, host of the Dear America podcast added: "Did NOBODY learn from Bud Light's COSTLY mistake? Miller Lite just dropped this WOKE advertisement!!!"

But the backlash did not faze Kay who took to her social media to celebrate her tour and partnership with Miller Lite.

"We've gone from 100 tickets sold to tens of thousands.. from dive bars to amphitheaters and from cover songs to y'all screaming my original music. Although so much has changed.. a few things have stayed the same. I'm still drinking @MillerLite and I'll always be a Dive Bar Dreamer," she tweeted alongside a photo of her tour poster.

She later shared an image of herself in a glittery outfit backstage holding a microphone.

"How are we feeling about the Dive Bar Dreamer x@MillerLite Tour announcement!?" Kay wrote on Twitter.

The "I Hate Airplanes" singer first started in the music industry as an R&B singer but decided to go back to her country roots.

She rose to fame on TikTok when a cover she did of Dolly Parton's hit, "Jolene" went viral and even got an endorsement from the Queen of Country herself.

But her star rose in 2022 when she covered Tim McGraw's "Don't Take The Girl." Once McGraw heard it, he invited her to open for him on his summer tour.

"We now have the opportunity to bring our music directly to our audience, hear their thoughts, and then create a marketing plan tailored to those fans based on what they have shared with us," Alexandra Kay told GRAMMY.com about the power of TikTok. "The time for independent artists is now."