Dylan Mulvaney Hits Back At Critics Of Her Bud Light Campaign — 'Dehumanization Has Never Fixed Anything In History, Ever'
Trans acceptance in America has a long way to go.
Ovidiu Hrubaru / lev radin / Shutterstock In 2022, 26-year-old trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney decided to post her transition online in a series she titled “Days of Girlhood,” but the project has been a messy and emotional rollercoaster.
Mulvaney has received plenty of hate and backlash for being trans and sharing her journey online, with people calling her “highly insulting to real women” and other women saying she “will never be one of us ever” on her Instagram account.
But Mulvaney hasn't allowed the hate to silence her and she continues to tell her story, hitting back at her critics for being cruel and dehumanizing.
Mulvaney is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and spreads messages of love to her followers, despite yet another hate campaign targeting her.
To celebrate her first year of girlhood, Bud Light sent Mulvaney a decorated can with her face on it. She posted an Instagram reel in which she drinks the beer and announces her partnership with them, setting off a heated debate online.
Mulvaney received nationwide backlash from conservatives after her Bud Light partnership.
The most notable reaction was from the musician Kid Rock. He posted a video shooting cans of Bud Light with an AR-15 rifle and called for a boycott of the beer. Kid Rock posted the video to his Twitter account where it received several million views a mere 12 hours after he shared it.
In the video, he says "f--k Bud Light and f--k Anheuser-Busch" in response to their collaboration with Mulvaney.
Surprisingly, most of the comments were agreeing with Kid Rock. People praised him for the hate and posted degrading memes about the LGBTQ+ community. One person commented about Mulvaney directly and said that "anything Dylan touches is ruined in my opinion."
However, a few people posted their disdain for the musician's actions. One commenter said that trans people have never done anything to him and he needs to learn how to be compassionate towards others. Another user commented, "Congrats! You just single handedly bankrupted a once-proud brewing company."
Other conservative stars such as Travis Tritt followed in Kid Rock’s footsteps. People even stated they would boycott Garth Brooks’ bar in Nashville, Tennesse because he was choosing to sell all brands of beer. Brooks was unphased by the call to boycott his bar.
In response to this, he said, “If you are let into this house love each other” and “there are plenty of lower places on Broadway” for customers who are unkind. Mulvaney's Instagram post was also flooded with hate from transphobic people. One Instagram user commented that because Mulvaney cannot bear children or have a period, she is not a woman.
Bud Light sales dropped 23% the week of April 23rd, weeks after the Mulvaney campaign, and the company has since lost its title of the 'top-selling beer.'
Wall Street analysts called the plummet a “crisis” and downgraded the company’s stock to be “on hold." Bud Light’s CEO, Michel Doukeris, stated that it was "one can, one post, and one influencer, it was not a whole campaign" to try to put sand on the fire. But this didn't work because people continued to boycott the beer, proving that it's a much bigger issue than just sales. The backlash resulted in Bud Light executives being put on leave.
The fallout of Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light proves that Americans have a long way to go when it comes to trans acceptance.
It paved the way for other big brands, such as Target, to take down their LGBTQ+ support because of complaints. Because of this, it seems as if society is moving backward in terms of acceptance.
But Mulvaney is not allowing the hate to stop her.
After a much-needed break from social media, Mulvaney came back to address the hate on TikTok.
"I’ve always tried to love everyone, you know, even the people who make it really, really hard," she said. "And I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever."
Kid Rock and others who participated in anti-trans hate regarding the Bud Light collaboration absolutely have dehumanized Mulvaney. They don't agree with a company supporting a trans influencer, all while forgetting that trans people exist and are human too.
The collective power that people demonstrated when they came together to hate on Mulvaney proves how powerful hatred is. But Mulvaney won't allow this outcry to overpower her.
The people-pleaser in Mulvaney has died, she mentions, because she cannot please everyone. And she's exhausted from trying. So, Mulvaney will continue to advocate and speak out for the trans community and shine her light upon the world.
Tarah Hickel is a Washington-based writer who focuses on entertainment and news.