Beer and spirits distributors are continuing to remove brands linked to Conor McGregor from their shelves following Nikita Hand’s successful rape civil case against the mixed martial arts fighter.
Leading British retailer Asda confirmed on Thursday afternoon that it had removed the Forged Irish Stout brand from its stores and online site “and have made the supplier aware of this decision”. Asda, which began stocking Conor McGregor’s stout last year, was selling the product in 500 of its 1,200 locations across the UK before this week’s decision to pull back. The retailer does not stock the Proper No. Twelve whiskey.
JD Wetherspoon also announced on Thursday it had removed the Forged Irish Stout brand from seven pubs across the Republic of Ireland. A Wetherspoon spokesman added the product was “not available elsewhere in Wetherspoon”.
DAA, the operator of Dublin and Cork airports, removed the Proper No. Twelve and Forged Irish Stout brands from shelves in both airports last weekend.
“We can confirm that none of the bars in Dublin or Cork airports sell either Proper No. Twelve or Forged Irish Stout,” said DAA media relations manager Graeme McQueen.
A spokesman for O’Briens wine shops confirmed on Thursday that Proper No. Twelve or Forged Irish Stout “are no longer stocked by O’Briens”.
Owner of Baggot Street Wines, Garret Connolly, said his South Dublin business pulled both products from its shelves in 2019 when reports circulated about an alleged sexual assault by Mr McGregor.
“We had three bottles of his whiskey, I decided to pour them down the toilet,” he said when he learned of the legal action against him.
“I have two daughters and I’m not going to stand around and sell products by someone accused of rape,” Mr Connolly told The Irish Times, adding that his shop never sold Forged Irish Stout.
Last Friday, a High Court jury awarded €248,603 damages to Dublin woman Nikita Hand against Mr McGregor after finding she was assaulted by him in a Dublin hotel.
Ms Hand alleged, in her civil action for damages, she was raped by the mixed martial arts star in the Beacon Hotel in South Dublin on December 9th, 2018. McGregor denied her claim.
Barry Group, which operates the Costcutter stores and Carry Out off-licences, was the first to say it was dropping Forged Irish Stout and Proper No. Twelve earlier this week.
Shortly afterwards Musgraves, which owns the Supervalu and Centra outlets, followed suit.
Retail giant Tesco has also said a whiskey product promoted by Mr McGregor would be removed from its UK outlets as well as in Ireland.
The boycott of these products came after the Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) urged retailers to stop selling Conor McGregor’s stout and whiskey products in the aftermath of the jury’s decision in the High Court.
BWG Foods, a leading retail and wholesale company, has said whiskey and stout products associated with Mr McGregor would no longer be listed for distribution across its network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores. The removal of the brand by so many retailers could see the whiskey and stout disappear from about 1,000 outlets.
A spokesman for the Celtic Whiskey Shop on Dawson Street said they hadn’t had Proper No. Twelve in stock “in a long time” and would usually direct people “around the corner” to buy the whiskey from a larger Irish retailer.
A spokeswoman for the Irish whiskey Museum said they have never stocked Proper No. Twelve.
The company that bought Mr McGregor’s whiskey brand has said it will stop using his “name and likeness” in marketing.
McGregor sold his Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand to Mexican-owned Proximo Spirits in 2021, in a deal that was said at the time to have valued the business at $130 million (€123.9 million).
The image of the mixed martial arts fighter has since been removed from the official Proper No. Twelve website. Proximo has said he will no longer feature in company marketing.
On Monday, the developer of the ‘Hitman’ video game series said it was removing content featuring Mr McGregor.
IO Interactive said in a statement on social media: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately.”
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