Embattled Transgender Actress Dylan Mulvaney Breaks Silence on Bud Light Brouhaha, Says Brewer Abandoned Her

‘I’ve been scared to leave my house, I’ve been ridiculed in public, I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,’ Mulvaney says.

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Dylan Mulvaney at the Grammy Awards on February 5, 2023, at Los Angeles. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

A transgender actress and comedian whose online marketing partnership with Bud Light sparked backlash and a boycott, Dylan Mulvaney, is speaking at length about her experience with the brewer for the first time, claiming that Anheuser-Busch didn’t stand by her after anti-transgender activists began boycotting Bud Light.

In a video posted to Instagram, Ms. Mulvaney shared her perspective on the ongoing backlash she’s received after doing a single Instagram promotional video for Bud Light.

“I took a brand deal with a 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’ve thought I was like on a billboard or in a TV commercial, or something major,” Ms. Mulvaney said.

Ms. Mulvaney said Bud Light never reached out to her concerning the backlash, adding, “I’ve been scared to leave my house, I’ve been ridiculed in public, I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”

“What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined,” Ms. Mulvaney said. “I should’ve made this video months ago but I didn’t and I was scared and I was scared of more backlash.”

Ms. Mulvaney discussed her experience after she did the ad and went on to say that “to turn a blind eye and pretend everything is okay — it just isn’t an option right now.”

“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring at all,” Ms. Mulvaney said. “It gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.”

A Bud Light representative responded to the video, telling the Daily Beast that the company is “committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community.”

Bud Light did not address Ms. Mulvaney by name nor address her claim that the company never reached out to her during the backlash from anti-trans boycotters.

Earlier in June, Bud Light lost its spot as the top-selling beer in America after sales of the beer dropped by 24.6 percent in the four weeks leading up to June 3, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting.

After an extended break from releasing new ads online, Bud Light returned earlier this month with an ad focusing on summertime issues like sunburn, heat, and thunderstorms set to Chic’s “Good Times.”

Bud Light did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


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