ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

Brewery Boss Resigns After Branding Non-Alcoholic Beer 'Gay Lemonade'

Brewery Boss Resigns After Branding Non-Alcoholic Beer 'Gay Lemonade'

Nick Warming quit hours after an apology for the meme backfired

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

The boss of a brewery has been forced to resign after he joked that non-alcoholic beer should be called 'gay lemonade'.

Nick Warming quit Southern Bay Brewery after receiving an angry backlash on social media to a post he had shared on the firm's Facebook page.

The CEO had posted a meme of an old boxer with the caption: "Non-alcoholic beer. You mean gay lemonade?"

Since it was shared to the Southern's 2,000 followers, angry customers have been piling in to complain about the 'joke'.

Responding to criticism, the former boss of the Australian company said: "I thought I would advise that following a board meeting, I have resigned as CEO of Southern Bay Brewing Co. The board have accepted my resignation with immediate effect."

The 'joke' didn't go down too well with customers.
Facebook

This was an update after he initially apologised for the meme, claiming he didn't mean to offend anyone.

He wrote: "Apologies to all for an earlier post. This was posted without any thought whatsoever and no offence was intended. I apologise unreservedly.

"The post has since been deleted and we will be more careful selecting our posts in future.

"We realise this is not good enough and we should not have posted the homophobic beer meme. It will not happen again.

"It was a gross error and mistake and we would appreciate it if people were kind enough to forgive us.

"The post in no way reflected the thoughts of staff of the Southern Bay Brewing Co. and they should not be held accountable for my actions. Please accept my sincere apologies."

The firm's CEO later revealed that he had resigned because of the incident.
Facebook

But not everyone was in the forgiving mood, with many labelling the post and the apology a 'disgrace'.

One person said: "Not remotely acceptable!!! its 2019!!! This is a brilliant industry with amazing and diverse people in it and supporting it.

"What an absolute disgrace. You have tarnished its reputation and yet again we are reminded that this bullshit still exists."

A second critic wrote: "The post and the subsequent 'apology' has just proven that you haven't learnt as a company from previous poor posts."

While another added: "Can you please update and correct your apology, it wasn't a problem because it was a 'beer meme'. It was homophobic. Let's be really clear.

"Don't minimise your actions, but own up to it or your response is meaningless."

Brew News reports that in January this year, Southern Bay also found itself in trouble with the Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code Scheme (ABAC) over another meme.

ABAC said that the meme, which said: "There's nothing wrong with you that me drinking six beers can't fix", promoted binge drinking.

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/Southern Bay Brewery

Topics: Viral, World News, Interesting, Beer, Australia