FACT CHECK: Did Coca Cola’s CEO Make This Comment About ‘Right Winged Nuts?’

Christine Sellers | Fact Check Reporter

A post shared on Twitter purports Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said, “a few right winged nuts won’t affect our bottom line” in response to boycotts.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence Quincey made the purported remark. A Coca-Cola Company spokesperson denied the claim’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

Fact Check:

Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s brands, is the second senior marketing executive who has been placed on leave following backlash over a recent campaign with transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, according to the New York Post. A Florida seafood restaurant is among those boycotting Bud Light, Fox Business reported.

The post claims Quincey dismissed the idea of boycotts deeply affecting their revenues. “When asked about the boycott, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey says: ‘A few right winged nuts won’t effect [sic] our bottom line,'” the Twitter post, viewed over 40,000 times, purports. Although the post doesn’t mention a specific brand, it can be presumed the purported comment is in response to recent Bud Light boycotts.

The claim is false. Check Your Fact found no credible news reports indicating Quincey made the purported remark. Likewise, the Coca-Cola Company has neither referenced the purported remark in any of its recent press releases nor in any statement published to its verified social media accounts.

The purported quote attributed to Quincey first circulated online in response to diversity training materials that were said to be linked to Coca-Cola, multiple Twitter posts from 2021 show. Coca-Cola faced backlash in 2021 after a whistleblower allegedly leaked the training materials, which instructed employees to “be less white,” according to Newsweek. (RELATED: Is Reese’s Terminating Its Relationship With Hershey’s Due To ‘Wokeness?’)

“This statement was fabricated and is not accurate,” Coca-Cola Company spokesperson Scott Leith denied the claim’s authenticity in an email to Check Your Fact.

This is not the first time recent boycotts have been the subject of misinformation on social media. Check Your Fact recently debunked a claim suggesting Ahneuser-Busch was planning to discontinue and subsequently rebrand Bud Light.

Christine Sellers

Fact Check Reporter

Trending