Probe underway after Chicago PD’s Twitter account liked anti-trans tweet

The Chicago Police Department has opened an investigation after its Twitter account appeared to "like" an anti-trans tweet posted by country singer Travis Tritt, NBC 5 Chicago reports.

Per Chicago Sun-Times, a department spokesperson confirmed a "complaint was being investigated by the department's Bureau of Internal Affairs."

Tritt tweeted earlier this week, "I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same."

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The singer's tweet came after criticism from fellow conservatives' "criticism of the company's partnership between Bud Light and transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney," which involves mention of a boycott against the beer company.

The singer followed up with another tweet, saying, "Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled. I have no such fear."

"There is an open investigation into this matter," CPD told NBC 5. "We will not comment further to protect the integrity of this investigation."

The influencer posted to Instagram, "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"

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The Sun-TImes reports:

Jeff Wittekiend initially brought attention to the Chicago police Twitter by sharing a screen grab on his personal page. The Chicagoan said he believes the tweet was meant to have been liked on a personal page by someone who works for the Chicago Police Department.

He said, "It's not surprising that there are folks associated with the Chicago Police Department public relations team who would agree with these anti-trans ideas. It would have been surprising if it would have been intentionally liked on the official Twitter page."

NBC 5 reports:

In Chicago, data from the police department shows the number of hate crimes due to gender identity have seen increases in recent years, with nine incidents in 2019, eight incidents in 2021 and seven incidents in 2022. That's compared to three in 2018, one in 2017 and three in 2016.

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NBC 5 Chicago's full report is available at this link. Chicago Sun-Times' report is here.