Social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a TikTok video on Thursday addressing the Bud Light controversy for the first time since it erupted in April.
Mulvaney’s TikTok video showed her drinking beer from a glass as she told viewers about her experiences since her Instagram post in early April promoting Bud Light.
“What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined,” Mulvaney said in the TikTok video.
“For months now, I’ve 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,” she said.
Mulvaney added that in the months following the Bud Light advertisement, she waited for the brand to reach out to her, but “they never did.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev
(ticker: BUD), the maker of Bud Light, has been dealing with the reaction, too, in lost sales and anger directed at employees and the brand. The company had sent Mulvaney a personalized can of Bud Light to commemorate the one-year anniversary of her “Days of Girlhood” online series documenting her transition. Mulvaney showed the can during the Instagram video in April.
An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told Barron’s on Thursday that “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. 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,” the spokesperson added.
In an interview on CBS Mornings on Wednesday, Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. CEO Brendan Whitworth said: “It’s been a challenging few weeks, and I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer and the conversation has become divisive. Bud Light really doesn’t belong there. Bud Light should be all about bringing people together.”
Whitworth, whose LinkedIn profile says he was a counterterrorism operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2001 to 2006, pushed back on a question from CBS about whether sending Mulvaney the can was a mistake.
He said Bud Light has supported the LGBTQ community since 1998 and would continue to support the communities and organizations it has supported for decades.
Mulvaney said on TikTok on Thursday: “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.”
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
Read the full article here