Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney described in an interview Tuesday feeling “scared” that the backlash against her affiliation with Bud Light could spark real-world violence after conservatives criticized the activist.
Mulvaney spoke about “Beergate” on Monica Lewinsky’s “Reclaiming” podcast, during which the influencer discussed the 2023 controversy after partnering with Bud Light after a “really big bidding war between two big companies.”
The company sent over cans with the influencer’s face to celebrate Mulvaney’s “365 Days of Girlhood,” a collaboration that triggered intense backlash and calls for a boycott from conservative commentators and country music figures.
Lewinsky brought up the example of singer Kid Rock using a rifle to shoot several dozen Bud Light cans while declaring, “F— Bud Light and f— Anheuser-Busch!”
“What ended up happening was the far-right media and the powers that be that decided to make that America’s biggest problem of the moment, which was, ‘Why is a trans person on a can of beer?’” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney said the reaction was “humorous” at first but feared the threats from critics could become “real.”
“But then, what got scary was, like, real people that were then potentially influenced by that person or that content,” Mulvaney said. “And that’s what I find really fascinating about some of the far right’s content that they’re putting out there or some of their philosophies or things that they’re promoting that then leads actual people to actual violence.
“And, so, I wasn’t scared of a country singer coming to my house to, you know, do something. I was scared of the people that listened to that [person],” Mulvaney said.
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Mulvaney compared the experience to the “Wicked” musical’s depiction of the misunderstood character Elphaba, a retelling of the Wicked Witch character’s story from the “Wizard of Oz.”
“I think of the villainization of … I think about the animals in ‘Wicked’ because it’s like they needed a common enemy, and so they’re, like, ‘OK, great. Trans people.’ And then, with me, [it] felt very Elphaba, of here’s somebody that had the best of intentions and then, but, they needed that poster child,” Mulvaney said.
In January 2024, FOX Business reported that Bud Light sales fell nearly 30% in the months following the campaign. The backlash became one of the most prominent corporate culture clashes in recent years, with Bud Light ultimately losing its position as America’s top-selling beer.
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Mulvaney ignited new backlash last month after being cast as Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, in Broadway’s “Six the Musical.” Despite the controversy, Mulvaney defended taking the role in the all-female cast.
“If I had to go viral and find myself in a far-right media firestorm and spend many years and many tears wondering why that was happening and trying desperately to get back to what I once loved, which was theater, I would do it all over again if it meant that I got to be on stage,” Mulvaney said.
