Posted by [ad_1]
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) is apologizing to Diet Mountain Dew after inadvertently insulting the soda brand in a dig aimed at Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
During a press conference on Thursday, Beshear said from the podium that he wanted to “set the record straight” before he pulled out a bottle of his diet soda.
“I owe Diet Mountain Dew an apology,” he said, before giving a shout-out to Kentucky-based soda brand Ale-8One. “Ale-8One is definitely Kentucky’s soft drink. But I don’t think the government should be making your decisions.”
“So if you like Diet Mountain Dew, if you are, we want to support you,” he continued. “And to Diet Mountain Dew, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to say negative things about you.”
“Remember, I’m from here like everyone else talking,” he added.
The soft drink test started bubbling after that Vance tried to mock the Democrats at a rally in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio earlier this week, saying that liberals will see racism in his choice to drink Diet Mountain Dew.
“(Democrats) say it’s racist to do something,” he told the crowd. “I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday, and one today – I’m sure they’ll call me racist too.”
Beshear answered to Vance’s remarks shortly after, telling CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” that she thought the Ohio senator’s comments about racism and the Mountain Dew Diet were strange in more ways than one reason
“What was weird was, he was joking about racism today, and then talking about Diet Mountain Dew — who drinks Diet Mountain Dew?” he said.
Beshear also singled out Vance for the way he characterized rural America in his 2016 bestseller, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.”
The Kentucky governor told CNN that Vance, who was raised in Ohio and spent time in Kentucky during his education, “is not from” Kentucky.
“He’s not from Kentucky,” Beshear said, before accusing the Ohio senator of writing a book about Kentucky and Appalachia “to take advantage of our people.”