Trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney felt abandoned amid Bud Light backlash

Dylan Mulvaney has come out swinging against the beer company for a lack of support in the wake of the scandal that saw sales plummet.

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after a promotional video sparked transphobic backlash. Picture: Getty

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, whose social media promotion of Bud Light drew attacks from conservatives, has criticised the beer company for not supporting her amid the backlash.

“In my opinion, 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,” said Mulvaney in a four-minute TikTok video captioned “Trans people like beer too.”

Mulvaney, 26, revealed that she has faced stalking, bullying, and personal attacks since featuring Bud Light in a sponsored Instagram video, and that the beer company failed to contact her amid the backlash. She said Bud Light staying silent throughout the controversy allowed “customers to be as hateful and transphobic as they want.”

“This month I celebrated my day 365 of womanhood, and Bud light sent me possibly the best gift ever,” Mulvaney told the camera in the video posted April 1.

It all began with a video shared on Mulvaney’s personal Instagram account, where she boasts 1.8 million followers, on April 1. In the video, she speaks to her followers about a $15,000 giveaway sponsored by Bud Light, sharing that the company had sent her a personalised can with her face on it to celebrate the 365-day anniversary of her gender transition.

The video led some conservatives to label Bud Light a “trans beer” and call for a boycott against the company, citing its perceived ”woke” misstep. Bud Light‘s brand name is often referenced in country music songs, and country stars were among the most prominent voices in the backlash.

During a mid-April concert, singer Riley Green substituted the name of another beer in one of his songs, eliciting cheers from the audience. Musician Kid Rock also posted a video of himself shooting cases of Bud Light with a semiautomatic rifle.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that he would no longer drink Bud Light as part of his refusal to support “woke companies” promoting progressive values.

Bud Light sales plummeted, dropping nearly 25 per cent in the four weeks ending on June 3 compared with a year earlier. Since then, two marketing executives at Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, have taken a leave of absence.

Mulvaney added that she should have made the video months ago but was “scared of more backlash” and “felt personally guilty for what transpired.”

“For months now, I’ve been scared to leave the house. I’ve been ridiculed in public,” she said. “I‘m not telling you this because I want your pity, I’m 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.”

The influencer is most popular on TikTok, where she has 10.6 million followers and has documented her transition in a viral series called “Days of Girlhood.”

In the video, she called on companies to go beyond donations and promotional campaigns in supporting the LGBTQ+ community. “Supporting trans people shouldn’t be political,” she said. ”There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.”