- Dylan Mulvaney says Bud Light's makers never reached out as she faced hate over her promotion of the beer.
- Anheuser-Bush and Mulvaney, a transgender influencer, faced backlash after she posted an Instagram promotion.
Transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a TikTok video on Thursday alleging Bud Light never reached out to her as she faced a firestorm of online hate after her promotion with the beer company.
"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," Mulvaney said in the video discussing the backlash on Thursday.
"As we've said, 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," an Anheuser-Busch spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. "The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority. As we move forward, we will focus on what we do best – brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter to our consumers."
Anheuser-Busch and Mulvaney faced sharp backlash and boycotts from right-wing customers after Mulvaney posted a promotion on her Instagram that featured a custom Bud Light beer can with a print of her face in April.
Conservative critics — enraged over the beer brand working with Mulvaney — called for a boycott, while LGBTQ+ advocates demanded Anheuser-Busch stand with the transgender community.
Mulvaney, a 26-year-old comedian and actress, has more than 10 million followers on TikTok. She rose to prominent fame for a 2022 series she kicked off on the app called "Days of Girlhood" chronicling her gender transition.
"The hate doesn't end with me — it has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community and we're customers too," Mulvaney said in her video Thursday. "I know a lot of trans and queer people who love beer and I have some lesbian friends who could drink those haters under the table."
"But to turn a blind eye and pretend everything is okay, it just isn't an option right now," she added. "And you might say, 'Dylan, I don't want to get political. Babe, supporting trans people shouldn't be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us."
The fallout from the promotion appeared to lead to a dip in Bud Light sales, and employees and wholesalers endured incidents with angry customers. Analysts from JP Morgan have also warned that sales could continue to drop, and predicted some consumers will swear off Bud Light "for the foreseeable future."
Mulvaney's comments came a day after Bud Light's US CEO Brendan Whitworth appeared on CBS to discuss the months-long backlash the Bud Light brand has faced.
On Wednesday, Whitworth was asked whether he thought the promotion Bud Light did with Mulvaney was a "mistake."
The CEO steered clear of directly answering the question. He said that Bud Light would continue to support LGBTQ+ organizations, as the brand has done over the last 25 years.
At the same time, Bud Light has been criticized in the past for donating to anti-LGBTQ+ politicians, the interviewers pointed out in the CBS segment.
The beer brand, which ceded its title as the number one selling beer brand in the US, has been working at rebuilding its image and bolstering its sales after dealing with fallout from the promotion with Mulvaney.
June 29, 2023: This story has been updated with a statement from Anheuser-Busch.