Kentucky Gov. Beshear apologizes to Diet Mountain Dew. 'Sometimes I have gone over the line.'
Gov. Andy Beshear just apologized... to Diet Mountain Dew.
That's right, the governor issued an apology to the soda during a press conference on Thursday afternoon. Beshear made a passing comment about the soda while making a separate point during an interview with CNN on Monday.
Here's what to know.
What's Gov. Beshear's beef with Diet Mountain Dew?
While Beshear doesn't actually have beef with Diet Mountain Dew, he does have beef with J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump's running mate for the upcoming presidential election.
It seems that the sugar free beverage simply got caught in the crossfire.
During his interview with CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins on Monday, Beshear was asked to respond to a comment J.D. Vance had made about Beshear's upbringing.
The comment was Vance's response after Beshear had previously called him a phony and not a Kentuckian and implied heavily that nepotism was the only reason Beshear is governor.
"It's very weird to have a guy whose first job was at his dad's law firm and inherited the governorship from his father to criticize my origin story," Vance said. "Yes, nobody gave me the governorship and nobody gave me a job because of who my father was, I'm proud of that."
Beshear then redirected the question to comment on another statement Vance had made the day before, which he implied that anything he does could be deemed as racist, including drinking a Diet Mountain Dew.
“I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today, and I’m sure they’re going to call that racist too,” Vance told the crowd at a rally in his Ohio hometown.
Now this is where Beshear seems to have accidentally bashed Diet Mountain Dew.
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"What was weird was him joking about racism today, and then talking about Diet Mountain Dew," Beshear said. "Who drinks Diet Mountain Dew? But in all seriousness, he's not from Kentucky. ...This is a guy who went out to Silicon Valley that's trying to be an every man, (but) he ain't one of us."
The comment about Diet Mountain Dew sparked a bit of an online reaction, which is why Beshear took the opportunity at the end of his press conference on Thursday to apologize to the beverage.
"Folks, I've been a person that when — sometimes I have gone over the line — and I wanted to make sure that I set the record straight," Beshear started. "I do owe an apology to Diet Mountain Dew."
Beshear then pulled out a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew from inside the podium before apologizing to Kentuckians who may enjoy the soda.
"Ale 8 One is definitely the soft drink of Kentucky, but I don't believe the government should be making your decisions," Beshear said. "So if you enjoy Diet Mountain Dew — you be you — we want to support you."
Beshear ended his apology with one final more direct apology to the soda itself.
"And to Diet Mountain Dew, [I'm] very sorry, didn't mean to say negative things about you," Beshear said. "Just remember, I am from here, just like everyone else is that is speaking out."
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John Tufts from the Indianapolis Star and Gabriel Chenault from the Knoxville News Centinnel contributed to this report.
Katie Wiseman is a trending news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Here's why Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear apologized to Diet Mountain Dew