I don’t drink “energy” drinks, and it has nothing to do with their affiliations, and a lot to do with their taste. (Blah.) But I like the way Rockstar has handled a PR disaster.

Turns out the CEO of Rockstar, one Russell Weiner, has a famou… er, infamous dad with a different last name: Right-wing hatemongering radio host Michael Savage. Several gay media sources reported on this, and according to one, Rockstar’s initial reaction was to sue them for conflating Weiner with his papa.

Instead of spending money on lawyers, though, Weiner decided to salve the wounds by donating $100,000 to the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada (where Rockstar is based), GLSEN and the Trevor Project.

“It has recently come to Rockstar’s attention that there might be a misconception about our company’s policy and my personal support for LGBT rights,” Weiner said in a statement. “We apologize for that misunderstanding, and want to make clear today that our company fully supports our LGBT employees and our LGBT customers.” The release goes on to call out Savage for his “offensive language” (Happy Belated Father’s Day, Mike!).

There’s even more — like the company’s commitment to same-sex partner benefits — but it’s the approach that impressed me. Don’t misunderstand: I still don’t plan to consume many energy drinks in the future. But than one can of Rockstar in the fridge someone gave me I will happily down now, knowing inside, Michael Savage may die a little.

— Arnold Wayne Jones

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Dining, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.