The White House expressed support for transgender content creator Dylan Mulvaney amid the ongoing fallout from her collaboration with Bud Light beer.
(Bloomberg) — The White House expressed support for transgender content creator Dylan Mulvaney amid the ongoing fallout from her collaboration with Bud Light beer.
“When a transgender American posts a video about a brand of beer they enjoy, and it leads to bomb threats, it’s clear that that level of violence and vitriol against transgender Americans has to stop,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday.
Mulvaney, an actress and social media personality with more than 13 million followers across her platforms, posted a video sponsored by Bud Light on April 1, the final weekend of the NCAA’ men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. She previously partnered with Bud Light for a post timed to the Super Bowl. Anheuser Busch InBev Inc, which owns and produces Bud Light, is among the major alcohol brands that markets to the LGBTQ community, including by sponsoring annual Pride celebrations in June.
Conservative personalities have since called for a boycott of the Bud Light brand, and the company has received emailed bomb threats, Vox reported. Anheuser-Busch put out a statement regarding the backlash, which drew criticism for being too tepid, leading the LGBTQ media outlet The Advocate on Monday to also call for a boycott of the brand.
The fallout comes as states pass anti-trans bills at unprecedented rates. Lawmakers at the state level have introduced at least 467 anti-LGBTQ bills this legislative session, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. A quarter of the bills center on restricting transgender healthcare, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
“The administration is going to do everything that they can to protect LGBTQI+ people who are under attack, and that’s what we’ve been seeing across the country, especially in state houses,” Jean-Pierre, the first openly LGBTQ+ White House press secretary, said Thursday. “That type of dangerous rhetoric, that type of vitriolic language and violence that needs to stop.”
The Biden administration on April 6 introduced new rules that would block schools from unilaterally banning transgender athletes from competing in sports leagues that align with their gender identity. The proposed rules would still allow schools to develop their own criteria on athlete participation, so some transgender athletes could still be banned from play.
Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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