Threes Brewing co-founder calls vaccine mandates a ‘crime against humanity’

By Brooklyn Magazine Staff

The co-owner of a popular Brooklyn-based brewery is remaining defiant in the face of backlash for tweeting that vaccine mandates are a “crime against humanity” as well as other extreme opinions relating to the deadly virus.

“If you are not speaking out against them, you are a conspirator,” wrote Josh Stylman, co-founder and CEO of Threes Brewing, on Twitter. In a deleted tweet, he said that the vaccine passport system is “against any defensible scientific reality, echoes early sentiments in the Jim Crow South, Nazi Germany, Stalinism, Maoism, and other dark times in human history.”

Threes Brewing has outposts in Gowanus, Greenpoint, Governors Island and Huntington.

In an interview with Patch, Stylman explained and defended his position, saying he’s not comparing the policy to the Holocaust (just early Nazism, apparently). He said his point is that “other atrocities start with some group being deemed dangerous for no reason, and then from people becoming fearful and turning on one another from there.”

In any event, his views do not sit well with many people in the community.

⬇️ The CEO of @ThreesBrewing. Very disappointing. I go there regularly and was just about to plan an event there. Not happening anytime soon https://t.co/FwJuIQzXQL

— Seth Pollack (@sethmpk) February 16, 2022

Damn. Threes Brewery homie just inoculated himself against contracting any new business. 🔥 https://t.co/5PGSqFdGXF

— Shawn Lower (@shawnlower) February 17, 2022

I feel awful for the employees of @ThreesBrewing and their families tonight. Years of hard work going down the drain with every tweet from their CEO. This is self-destructive and incredibly sad.

— david andrako (@davidandrako) February 17, 2022

Well that was fast. They already named a beer after Josh Stylman. https://t.co/tSdG3fddvd pic.twitter.com/Q7UL87e2F0

— Sarah Allen (@Mssarahmssarah) February 17, 2022

Stylman, who is vaccinated, said that “most” of his team doesn’t agree with his views.

In another corner of the city—and using more measured language—NBA commissioner Adam Silver called the New York mandate an “oddity.”

“This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players,” he said Wednesday on ESPN’s Get Up. “If ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who’s unvaccinated can play in Barclays but the home player can’t.”

Mayor Eric Adams signaled that he agreed with Silver, but has no plans to reverse the mandate.

“I think the rule is unfair. I believe that we are saying to out-of-town athletes that they can come in and not be vaccinated. Yet, New York athletes, you have to be vaccinated,” he said in a press conference. “I am really, really leery about sending the wrong message. Having this city close down again keeps me up at night. And the message we put in place – the rule was put in place – to start changing it now, I think it would send mixed messages. So, I’m struggling with this, just to be honest with you.”