'Wouldn’t wish on anyone': Trans influencer blasts Bud Light in viral video after brand left her hanging

29 June 2023

Transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney shared in a now viral video Thursday explaining the fear and "loneliness" she has felt for months, after receiving backlash from conservatives in response to her partnership with Bud Light.

Despite the fact the nationwide boycott right-wing lawmakers and activists attempted to uphold fell flat, Mulvaney still faced harsh criticism, and threats that left her afraid to leave her home.

In April, Mulavney shared a sponsored post to Instagram, in partnership with Bud Light, writing, "Happy March Madness!! Just found out this had to do with sports and not just saying it's a crazy month! In celebration of this sports thing @budlight is giving you the chance to win $15,000! Share a video with #EasyCarryContest for a chance to win!! Good luck! #budlightpartner"

Since then, according to the influencer, the brand has not reached out to her.

Ari Drennen, who covers LGBTQ news and media criticism at Media Matters for America, shared Mulvaney's video via Twitter.

In the clip, Mulvaney says, "One thing I will not tolerate people saying about me is that I don't like beer. I love beer and I always have. I built my platform on being honest with you, and what I'm about to tell you might sound like old news, but you know that feeling when you have something uncomfy, like, sitting on your chest? Well that's how I feel right now, so this feels like the right thing to do. I took a brand deal with a 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've thought I was like, on a billboard, or on a TV commercial, or something major, but no, it was just an Instagram video."

She continued, "And the wildest part, is that they also sent me one can with my face on it — you might have seen it — and funny story, I had the can around my house but then realized wait, I need to protect this can, so I hid it somewhere and now I can't find it because I hid it so well, but when I do find it, I feel like it needs to go in a museum, preferably behind bullet-proof glass. And you might be thinking, Dylan, why bring it up now? I'm bringing it up because what transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia then I could've ever imagined. And I should've 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, 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."

Mulvaney concluded, "And for months now I have 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. And I'm not telling you this because I want your pity, I am 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."

Journalists, in support of the influencer, responded to the on the "shameful" incident via social media, calling Bud Light out for its failure to support Mulvaney during this time.

NBC senior reporter Ben Collins wrote: "It is horrific what's been done to this person, and the both-sidesing of this from news outlets in the name of selling the controversy has been deeply shameful."

John R. Stanton, editor at The Gambit commented: "The abject cruelty of the campaign against this woman isn't, as Dylan says, 'politics.' People's right to exist isn't a political issue. It’s a life and death one. Nobody should be 'voting' on whether she can live and to make it political is ghoulish and barbaric."

Decider reporter Raven Brunner said: "'I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did.' Wow, I’m not surprised but still heartbroken. Really emphasizes how transactional the relationships between brands and influencers are. The very least Bud Light could've done was check in on her."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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