After months of online hate over a single can of beer, trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney is calling out Anheuser-Busch for a lack of support.
In a video posted to her Instagram on Thursday (June 29), Mulvaney detailed her experience with the transphobic backlash she received after posting a promotional video for Bud Light back in April. “What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined,” Mulvaney said. “I should have made this video months ago, but I didn’t.”
Part of the reason Mulvaney waited to talk about her experience publicly was because she was waiting for Anheuser-Busch to get in touch with her and offer support — but according to Mulvaney, the brand never reached out.
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all,” a teary-eyed Mulvaney said into the camera. “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. And we’re customers too. I know a lot of trans and queer people who love beer.”
After Mulvaney posted her promotional video for Bud Light, in which the company sent her a commemorative can bearing her likeness, conservative commentators and celebrities lashed out at the company for working with a trans person. Artists like Kid Rock, John Rich, Ted Nugent and many more called for a boycott of the brand. As a result, Bud Light fell from its position as the top-selling beer in America earlier this month.
Mulvaney’s video comes one day after Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth appeared on CBS This Morning to address the Bud Light boycott that occurred following the influencer’s original collaboration. While Whitworth claimed that the company would “continue to support” the LGBTQ community, he dodged questions about whether or not the promotion with Mulvaney was a mistake, and signaled that the brand would shift back toward “what we do best, which is brewing great beer.”
For Mulvaney, Whitworth’s statement wasn’t enough, especially after she spent months feeling “scared” to leave her home, being followed in public, and feeling “a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.” Her existence, she pointed out, is not a matter of opinion or belief.
“To turn a blind eye and pretend everything is OK — it just isn’t an option right now,” she said. “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.”
Check out Mulvaney’s full video below:
