Transgender social media influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney appeared on ABC’s “The View” on Monday, March 10, to discuss and reflect on the Bud Light controversy of the spring of 2023. As a reminder, that controversy exploded in April of 2023 after Mulvaney revealed a promotion with Bud Light that involved Bud Light putting Mulvaney’s face on beer cans.
For reference, that controversy, once it exploded into the public sphere, saw the company lose a steady amount of market share as conservatives, along with beer drinkers generally, eschewed the beer, increasingly seeing it as “woke” and standing for weirdness rather than just being a cheap beer option.
In any case, Mulvaney appeared on The View to promote an upcoming book, “Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer.” During that, Mulvaney reflected on the disastrous Bud Light campaign and months of online mockery and scrutiny that came with it, saying, “Well, I will start by saying I love beer, and I always have.”
Continuing, Mulvaney said that the ridiculous, face-centric Bud Light focus felt “organic” and not something particularly notable, at first, saying, “So, I mean, when I took that deal, I didn’t think anything of it, because I was, like, ‘Oh, this is perfect.’ It felt like an organic thing to do, and it was just another part of me.”
Mulvaney then claimed to be somewhat surprised by the backlash and by having become something of a center point of the fight over transgender activism, saying, “I realized I had become the poster child for this thing when [being] trans is just a small part of me.” Mulvaney also bemoaned not having “all the resources” to deal with the situation.
Mulvaney added, on the point of the upcoming book about the whole situation, “But what I think was really special about writing about the experience was that people see me as this, like, eternal optimist, but I think sometimes the people that are seen that way are often the ones that are hurting the most. What brings me the most joy is my gender euphoria and to have that used against me was such a mind game.”
Concluding, Mulvaney said that “trans women” had been supportive during the Bud Light blow up, telling “The View” co-hosts, “But I think it was really the people around me, and the trans women in my life that supported me during that time and took my hand and said, ‘This is our reality, welcome.’ That’s what got me through.” Watch Mulvaney here:
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During the same broadcast, Whoopi Goldberg defended transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, saying, “I think part of the problem that the trans community is facing is the same problem that women face. Is if you don’t know anything about our bodies, then you don’t know how it works. So, when you come in and you say ‘oh, these are men competing against women,’ you’re assuming that the women are weak and just can’t do anything. Have you seen female athletes? They know what they’re doing. So I don’t know what’s going on or why this is an issue.”
Goldberg continued, “The same for me when people say, ‘oh, you know, I don’t know how I feel about you.’ You do, God doesn’t make mistakes. And the challenge is not to the trans people, it’s to the people who are not trans. That’s what God is looking to see, how you treat people. That’s what is happening.” Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video