Dylan Mulvaney, the trans influencer whose brief promotional campaign with Bud Light led to calls for a boycott, broke her silence on the matter Thursday, saying that the company never reached out to her and that she encountered “more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined” as a result of the partnership.
In posts on TikTok and Instagram, Mulvaney said she had been scared to leave her house for months, followed and publicly ridiculed. And she criticized Bud Light for what she said was a failure to defend her.
“ “What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined.” ”
“I should have made this video months ago, but I didn’t,” she said. “And I was scared. 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.”
She added: “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.”
A spokesperson for Anhesuer-Busch InBev
BUD,
Bud Light’s parent, said in a statement that “we remain committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority.”
Calls for a boycott, led by conservatives, began in April, after Bud Light and Mulvaney, who has millions of online followers, collaborated on a promotional partnership that encompassed a few social-media posts. Anheuser-Busch’s chief executive later later issued a statement saying “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”
Sales of Bud Light have fallen sharply since. Shares of AB InBev, which have fallen amid the drop in Bud Light sales, finished 0.6% lower on Wednesday.
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