Influencer Dylan Mulvaney condemns Bud Light’s response to transphobia
Dylan Mulvaney has spoken out against Bud Light, criticizing the brand for not supporting her amid transphobic backlash to an advertisement featuring the influencer.
In a TikTok video captioned “Trans people like beer, too”, Mulvaney, who is trans, called out Bud Light for largely abandoning her after she was bullied for posting a sponsored video to Instagram with the beer brand.
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all,” said Mulvaney, adding that the lack of condemnation allowed “customers to be as hateful and transphobic as they want”.
Mulvaney said that after posting the advertisement for Bud Light, she faced “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined”.
Mulvaney said she wanted to make a video explaining her feelings on the situation months ago, but didn’t, fearing more anti-trans backlash.
“I patiently waited for things to get better,” she said. “But surprise: they haven’t, really.”
Mulvaney said that amid the bullying, the company never contacted her. “For months now, I have been scared to leave my house. I have been ridiculed in public. I have been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she said.
She added: “I’m not telling you this because I want your pity. I’m telling you this because if this is my experience from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much, much worse for other trans people.”
In April, Mulvaney posted the advertisement, featuring a personalized beer can. The video quickly garnered transphobic criticism from conservatives, who called for a boycott of the beer.
Sales dropped by nearly 25% in the four weeks ending on 3 June, compared with a year earlier, as Bud Light lost its top spot in the US beer market this month. In a statement to wholesalers last month, the company said the promotion was the work of “an outside agency without Anheuser-Busch management awareness or approval”.
Mulvaney’s video comes as Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Anheuser-Busch, which owns Budweiser, said in a CBS Mornings interview on Wednesday that the company would provide financial support to wholesalers who have faced issues when selling the beer.