Defamation Charges Dropped Against Minocqua Brewing Owner
Kirk Bangstad still faces harassment charge, lawsuit by publisher
Minocqua Brewery owner and liberal activist Kirk Bangstad addresses reporters after filing a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court seeking to block former President Donald Trump from Wisconsin ballots in 2024. Anya van Wagtendonk/WPR
A judge in Oneida County has dismissed rare criminal defamation charges against a Northwoods brewery owner.
Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad was arrested in October after he posted a manipulated image showing the publisher of the Minocqua-based Lakeland Times newspaper and an employee in a sadomasochistic pose. Bangstad maintains the image was satirical.
It is part of a long-running feud between the conservative publisher Gregg Walker and Bangstad, who also operates the liberal Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC. In 2023, a jury in a civil trial found Bangstad had defamed Walker by falsely implying that Walker had let his own brother die in order to inherit the family business.
The criminal defamation charges came after Bangstad settled that case for $580,000. Bangstad posted the image in August 2024, shortly after the settlement was finalized.
Criminal defamation charges are relatively rare in Wisconsin. A study by a Marquette University scholar found more than 300 cases in Wisconsin across a 16-year period.
The dismissed lawsuit was far from the only legal challenge facing Bangstad. In February, Walker filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Bangstad violated his privacy by using Walker’s likeness on a beer marketed by the brewing company. That lawsuit, which also alleged that Bangstad defrauded donors to his super PAC, is making its way through federal court.
And Bangstad still faces harassment and bail jumping charges related to the criminal defamation case. The terms of his bond forbid him from harassing Walker. In late June, he and a handful of customers at his brewery were arrested after he gave what he called a “political speech” outside the brewery and called the group’s attention to Walker when Walker exited his office.
Bangstad’s political action committee has funded a series of failed lawsuits aiming to influence policy in Wisconsin, including a 2023 effort to end private voucher schools and a January 2024 effort to block Republican Donald Trump from appearing on Wisconsin’s ballot.
Criminal defamation charges dropped against Minocqua Brewing Company owner was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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