Dylan Mulvaney Calls Out Bud Light After Partnership Sparked Transphobic Backlash

Dylan Mulvaney is addressing her side of the Bud Light backlash for the first time. The influencer and actor, who is transgender, took to TikTok Thursday with a video calling out Anheuser-Busch, Bud Light’s parent company, for not standing by her after her partnership with the beer company resulted in transphobic backlash.

While Mulvaney didn’t use Anheuser-Busch’s name specifically in the video, she clearly addressed the backlash surrounding the social media ad she posted for the beer brand this spring, which sparked transphobic rhetoric from politicians, celebrities and customers. Mulvaney began her video by stating, “One thing I will not tolerate people saying about me is that I don’t like beer, and I always have.”

@dylanmulvaney

Trans people like beer too. 🏳️‍⚧️🍻

♬ original sound – Dylan Mulvaney

The social media personality went on to explain what happened. “I took a brand deal with the company that I loved, and I posted a sponsored video to my page. And it must’ve been a slow news week because the way that this ad got blown up you would have thought that I was on a billboard or on a TV commercial…” she said. While Mulvaney admitted she should have made this video “months ago,” she continued that she was bringing up the issue now because “what transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” and she received zero support from the brand in return.

“For months now, I’ve 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,” she said. “If this is my experience from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much, much worse for other trans people.” Mulvaney continued, “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,” she noted. “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.” Mulvaney explained of her frustration at the brand, “To turn a blind eye and pretend everything is okay – it just isn’t an option right now. 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.” The TikTok star concluded by asking her followers to support trans people, providing a link for people to donate to the Transgender Law Center.