Fact check: No changes at top of Anheuser-Busch amid social media blowback

Nate Trela, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read

The claim: Anheuser-Busch CEO resigned due to drop in sales

An April 9 article on topnewsz35.com describes a supposed leadership change at the world’s largest beermaker.

“The shakeup at Anheuser Busch continues in the wake of what may have been the dumbest thing a company could ever conceivably do,” the article begins. “CEO Augustus Anheuser III left the corporate headquarters in shame after tendering his resignation.”

The article was shared on Facebook more than 100 times in two days.

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Our rating: False

The article originated on a satirical website, but was republished without being labeled as satire. An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson confirmed that no leadership changes have taken place.

Article is stolen satire

The text of the topnewsz35.com article is copied from an April 6 article by The Dunning-Kruger Times, a website that publishes satirical content.

"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. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical.”

An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson confirmed there has been no leadership change. The article names Augustus Anheuser III as the departed CEO, but the company has never had a CEO of that name. AB InBev, the company created when Anheuser-Busch merged with InBev in 2008, has been led by Michel Doukeris since July 2021, while Brendan Whitworth has been CEO of the Anheuser-Busch unit in the U.S. since June 2021.

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There is no obvious connection between The Dunning-Kruger Times and topnewsz35.com, which has typo-filled headlines and aggregated content on its home page.

The claim is an example of "stolen satire," in which made-up claims published and labeled as satire are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.

The claim circulated on social media following Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman who is a social media influencer. The deal has received both criticism and public backlash, with some saying they would boycott the brand. The article claims Anheuser-Busch’s CEO resigned because Bud Light sales fell to record low levels, but the spokesperson said that wasn't the case, and there is no publicly available data to support the claim.

USA TODAY reached out to The Dunning-Kruger Times for comment. The site is part of the America’s Last Line of Defense Network of websites, whose founder, Christopher Blair, previously said in a Washington Post article that he launched his website to mock what he and friends considered extremist ideas.

USA TODAY could not reach topnewsz35.com for comment.

AFP and Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: No, Anheuser-Busch CEO did not resign