Dylan Mulvaney Calls out Bud Light
Company abandoned trans influencer after backlash to their partnership
The transgender social influencer at the center of the right-wing backlash earlier this year reacting to her endorsement deal with Bud Light is taking the company to task for how they treated her.
Those on the political right lost their minds after Anheuser-Busch partnered with her to promote sales of the Bud Light brand.
Influencer Dylan Mulvaney is calling out the company for the way it's treated her following that right-wing outrage, which became so intense some prominent right-wingers were shooting cans of Bud Light with assault-style weapons and Republican US senators threatened to investigate her.
Anheuser-Busch abandoned her after the transphobic threats and other attacks began, according to Mulvaney.
“One thing I will not tolerate people saying about me is that I don’t like beer, because I love beer and I always have,” Mulvaney said. “I built my platform on being honest with you, and what I’m about to tell you might sound like old news, but you know that feeling when you have something uncomfy like sitting on your chest? Well, that’s how I feel right now, so this feels like the right thing to do.”
She recounted how she's come to this point.
“I took a brand deal with the company that I loved and I posted a sponsored video to my page, and it must have been a slow news week because the way that this ad got blown up, you would have thought I was like on a billboard or on a TV commercial or something major, but no, it was just an Instagram video,” she said. “And the wildest part is that they also sent me one can with my face on it — you might have seen it — and funny story. I had the can around my house, but then I realized, ‘Wait, I need to protect this can,’ so I hid it somewhere and now I can’t find it because I hid it so well, but when I do find it, I feel like it needs to go in a museum, preferably behind bulletproof glass. And you might be thinking, ‘Dylan, why bring it up now?’
“I’m bringing it up because what transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined,” she added. “And I should have made this video months ago, but I didn’t, and I was scared and I was scared of more backlash and I felt personally guilty for what transpired, so I patiently waited for things to get better. But surprise, they haven’t really.
“And I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did, and for months now I had been scared to leave my house, I have been ridiculed in public, I’ve been followed and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Mulvaney said. “And I’m not telling you this because I want your pity. I am 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. 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 because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.
“And the hate doesn’t end with me. It has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community,” she said. “And — and, you know, we’re customers too. I know a lot of trans and queer people who love beer, and I have some lesbian friends who could drink some of those haters under the table, but to turn a blind eye and pretend everything just isn’t an option right now.”
Support for anyone's human rights should never be seen as “political,” Mulvaney explained.
“And you might say, ‘But, Dylan I don’t want to get political.’ Babe, supporting trans people, it shouldn’t be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us,” she said. “And I know it’s possible because I worked with some fantastic companies who care, but caring about the LGBTQ+ community requires a lot more than just a donation somewhere during Pride month. And all this to say, bottom line, is that if you follow me, if I’ve made you smile, if you care about me, I need you to care about every trans person and I need you to support us and I need you to stand by us.”
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