Threes Brewing Patrons Demand Firing After Anti-Vax Mandate Tweet

BROOKLYN, NY — Threes Brewing patrons not appeased by the company's public condemnation of its CEO — who this week called the COVID-19 vaccine mandate a "crime against humanity" — say they won't return until he is fired.

Threes Brewing publicly condemned the company's co-founder Thursday after he prompted outrage comparing vaccine mandates to policies of the Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany.

"We do not stand by our CEO Joshua Stylman’s comparisons of the mandate to historic atrocities based on religion or race," Threes Brewing said in a statement. "We think the comparisons are inappropriate and inaccurate."

But many of the beloved brewery's formerly loyal customers say the statement means little without concrete change.

"The apology made by Threes Brewing is an empty PR stunt unless it is followed up by real actions," Joel Gratcyk, co-founder of Brewery Finder, told Patch via email. "Josh Styleman should step down (or be removed)."

Ian Levenstein, a former Threes customer, told Patch he took issue with Threes' statement, which highlighted the brewery's past caused-based partnerships, and would have preferred to see the brewery distance itself from its CEO.

"It seemed like they were praising themselves for the work that they've done more than actually addressing that the face of the company is putting down what a lot of people consider to be an important health mandate," Levenstein said.

Threes' statement — published to Twitter just before 7 p.m. Thursday — received many similar responses from angry followers who promised not to return until Stylman was gone.

"I’m not buying Threes ever again unless that CEO leaves," replied one user.

"F--- your apology," tweeted another. "Anybody who compares vaccine mandates to the holocaust ... they won’t get a penny from me."

"Fire your CEO and make amends with the communities you've harmed," added a third. "There are a lot of breweries in Brooklyn and, luckily for all of us, @ThreesBrewing is making it easy to choose not to go there."

In the face of the backlash, Stylman posted a reply of his own to Threes' statement: "Courage, My Love."

Neither he nor Threes Brewing responded to Patch's requests for comment or clarification of this statement, or the since-deleted message, in which the brewery encouraged people to reach out to Stylman to "clarify or debate" his remarks.

But, in its Thursday statement, Threes reiterated that the brewery checks customers' vaccine status, as dictated by NYC's executive order, adding that maintained strict masking and social distancing policies and temporarily closed shop to allow all its workers to get the vaccine.

Threes also promoted its lineup of beers that support various social causes.

"Social good is one of the pillars of our company," Threes said. "We have people with lots of different opinions, and we're an organization that's made up 100% of people who have a conscience and care about our world."

But for Levenstein, beers for a good cause can't make up for a CEO whose public health opinions he rejects.

"If they remove him from the board, or actually let us know they understand why people have these concerns with what he said, that might change things a little bit for me," Levenstein said.

"Until then I just see myself buying other beers."