Bud Light spoke up after the NFL fined San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk $14,926 for a touchdown celebration the league said looked like he was chugging a beer.
The exchange started with a gesture Juszczyk made after scoring against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. He tilted his head back and raised his hand to his mouth as though drinking. The NFL took it as an imitation of chugging beer and fined him for an offensive demonstration. San Francisco won the game 35-13.
“Your imitation of chugging a beer constituted an offensive demonstration and could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste,” the league said in its fine letter.
Juszczyk says the NFL got the drink wrong. His nickname is “Juice,” and he says the celebration is meant to show him drinking juice. He has used the gesture for years, including in a 2021 clip he shared after learning of the fine. This was the first time the league had fined him for it.
“I wasn’t drinking beer in my celebration,” Juszczyk told reporters Thursday. He pointed to the juice box on his thigh pad and said fans yell “Juice” when he catches the ball. For the interview at his locker, he also put out a jug labeled “Not Beer.”
Kittle backed up his teammate on X, writing, “Can confirm he doesn’t really drink beer but is a good guy.”
Bud Light’s reply kept the joke going without weighing in on whether the fine was justified.
Bud Light’s response did little to calm the backlash. Fans called out the NFL for fining Juszczyk over a supposed beer-chugging gesture while taking money from an official beer sponsor.