Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been at the center of a national firestorm that came because of one sponsored video she made for Bud Light.
While Mulvaney has tried to stay away from the drama and culture war nonsense that cropped up around the video, she has finally decided to speak up about the lack of support she received from Bud Light afterward.
In a video posted to TikTok on Thursday, she addressed the anti-trans controversy over her sponsorship with Bud Light and accused them of not supporting her or even reaching out after the conservative backlash that made public life nearly impossible for her.
“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,” Mulvaney said in her TikTok video. “And the hate doesn’t end with me.”
@dylanmulvaney Trans people like beer too. 🏳️⚧️🍻
Mulvaney added that she decided it was time to address the situation because she was dealing with “more bullying and transphobia” than she “could have ever imagined.” And although she wanted to wait until the controversy died down, it simply hasn’t.
“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,” she said. “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.”
Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth appeared on CBS Mornings Thursday and tried to talk about moving past the controversy but didn’t seem to do a pretty good job of it.
As for Mulvaney, she just wants people to know that transgender people are people and that shouldn’t be a political issue.
“And you might say, ‘But Dylan, I don’t want to get political,’” Mulvaney said. “Babe, supporting trans people — it shouldn’t be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.”
