Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who has been floated as a possible Kamala Harris running mate, ended a press conference Thursday with a bizarre apology to diet Mountain Dew, days after he mocked Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s affinity for the beverage.
Beshear, 46, pulled out a bottle of the light green soft drink and placed it on the podium before asking for forgiveness.
“Folks, I’ve been a person that when sometimes I’ve gone over the line I’ve wanted to make sure that I set the record straight,” the Democratic governor told reporters. “So, I do owe an apology to diet Mountain Dew.”
“I don’t believe that the government should be making your decisions,” Beshear said, noting that his preferred soft drink is the caffeinated ginger ale produced by Kentucky-based company Ale-8-One.
“So, if you enjoy diet Mountain Dew – you be you – we want to support you,” he added. “And to diet Mountain Dew, very sorry, didn’t mean to say negative things about you.”
Earlier this week, Beshear attacked Vance after he joked at a campaign rally that Democrats would find it racist that he likes diet Mountain Dew.
“I had a diet Mountain Dew yesterday, and one today, I’m sure they’re gonna call that racist too but — it’s good,” the Republican Ohio senator said, arguing that Democrats “say it’s racist to do anything.”
Beshear later told CNN that he thought Vance’s quip “was weird,” and he asked, “Who drinks diet Mountain Dew?”
The Kentucky governor has said that Harris personally called him just hours after President Biden announced he was stepping off the ticket and asked him to support her candidacy for president.
Beshear has been adamant that he would only consider the VP job if he felt he could help the people of Kentucky in that position.
In the same CNN interview, Beshear revealed that he has not been asked to submit vetting paperwork to the Harris campaign.