🚨 BREAKING: Pride Events Face Budget Shortfalls As US Corporations Pull Support Ahead Of Summer Festivities – AP
Many U.S. corporations this year stopped supporting Pride events that celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and rights, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget shortfalls ahead of the summer festivities and raising questions about corporate America’s commitment to the cause, according to the Associated Press.
– San Francisco Pride is facing a $200,000 budget gap after corporate donors dropped out.
– In Kansas City, Missouri, KC Pride lost about $200,000 — roughly half its annual budget.
– NYC Pride and other LGBTQ+ events in New York City are fundraising to close a $750,000 budget gap after companies withdrew their support.
– Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch ended its sponsorship of PrideFest in St. Louis, Missouri, its home base, after 30 years, leaving organizers with a $150,000 budget shortfall.
– San Francisco Pride earlier this year lost the support of five major corporate donors, including Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, and Diageo, the beverage giant that makes Guinness beer and Smirnoff vodka.
After the withdrawals drew attention, some corporations said they would donate but only anonymously, per the Associated Press.
It appears that far too many corporations are now afraid of “going broke due to the consequences of going woke”.
Research has since found a growing number of American consumers don’t want companies taking positions on such topics, said Barbara Kahn, a marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“There have always been people who said, ‘I don’t want my toothpaste to have an opinion, I just want to use my toothpaste,’ but the tide has shifted, and research shows there are more people who feel that way now,” Kahn said.