Fact check: Claim that Budweiser was banned from Germany's Oktoberfest is satire

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
2

The claim: Budweiser brands will not be allowed at Germany's Oktoberfest

An April 22 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a group of people raising large mugs of beer above a headline that reads, "Budweiser Brands Won't Be Welcome at Oktoberfest For 1st Time in 75 Years."

"Oh how the mighty have fallen," reads the post's caption. "The King of Beers is no more."

The post was shared more than 5,000 times in four days. The article linked in the post has also been shared more than 5,000 times on Facebook, according to CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool.

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Our rating: Satire

The post is from a satirical website. There is no evidence of such an announcement, and only beer from Munich breweries is served at Germany's Oktoberfest.

Claim is from satirical website

Anheuser-Busch, which owns the Budweiser and Bud Light brands, became the subject of controversy among some conservatives after it partnered with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

But, despite the article's claim, that backlash hasn't led to Budweiser being banned from Germany's Oktoberfest, a festival held every year in late September and early October in the Bavarian city of Munich.

There is no evidence on the festival's website that organizers announced such a ban, and it isn't mentioned in any reputable media reports.

The beer served at the event only comes from breweries in Munich, according to the festival's website, which lists the brands Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Paulaner and Spaten.

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The claim originated on a website called "The Dunning-Kruger Times," which calls itself "a subsidiary of the 'America's Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire and tomfoolery."

"Everything on this website is fiction," the website's About Us page says. "It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined."

The article makes other unfounded claims, including that the festival is held in "a town called Okto," when it's actually held in Munich. It also misstates Germany's legal drinking age, which is 16 for beer.

USA TODAY has debunked other baseless claims about Anheuser-Busch's work with Mulvaney, including that it led to a significant leadership change and prompted the business to put up a billboard calling critics "crybabies."

The social media user who shared the claim could not be reached for comment.

The Associated Press, Check Your Fact, Lead Stories and Reuters also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Claim that Budweiser was banned from Oktoberfest is satire