Drew Barrymore kneels before Dylan Mulvaney in interview
Talk show host and actress Drew Barrymore knelt in front of transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney during a controversial segment on her show Monday morning.
Trans woman and social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney said she’s having "trouble sleeping" after the wave of backlash beer brand Bud Light received for making her one of their paid spokespersons.
During an episode of the "Dear Schuyler" podcast, the trans woman claimed she has been taking the intense backlash against the company’s decision very hard, admitting she’s not been sleeping well.
The influencer also noted that despite the frustration she feels over attacks on her and the beer brand, she is trying to have "grace" for her critics.
Dylan Mulvaney attends the Kate Spade Presentation during September 2022 New York Fashion Week at 3 World Trade Center. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Mulvaney’s recent appearance comes more than a month after Bud Light and parent company Anheuser-Busch’s decision to make her one of its brand spokespersons, complete with putting the trans woman’s face on a commemorative Bud Light can.
The decision invited intense backlash from American consumers who saw the move as way for the beer brand to steer away from its current base and seek more progressive drinkers.
The pushback was swift and intense, involving celebrities terminating contracts with the brand, other celebrities engaging in viral displays of protest of the brand and conservative consumers ditching the beer in general.
The ensuing boycott cost Bud Light billions of dollars in market value. Fox News Digital reported that the brand "faced net losses for four weeks in April," with Bud Light’s in-store sales dropping "26% in the week of April 22."
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Bud Light continues to face backlash more than a month after its polarizing pact with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompted outrage. (Instagram)
The fallout was so bad that the company distanced itself from Mulvaney, and Bud Light marketing vice president Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake, who oversees marketing for Anheuser-Busch’s mainstream brands, took a leave of absence.
Of course, much of the consumer ire has been trained on Mulvaney, who admitted in the podcast that it has gotten to her. Speaking on the pro-LGBTQ podcast this week, the trans woman claimed, "It’s true, I’m having trouble sleeping."
Mulvaney also remarked that she has had to learn how to deal with "hundreds of thousands of people that do not like me." The transgender influencer claimed, however, the criticism and the scrutiny has been a "blessing."
She said, "In a weird way, [it] has been a blessing to sort of break that people-pleasing mentality because there’s no way of winning those people over."
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Elsewhere in the interview, Mulvaney said she’s trying to be patient and treat her critics with "grace." She said, "But the people who are targeting us right now, I’m trying to find grace for them because I know that this was planted from something else. And I can only hope that they will see the beauty and the humanity and the importance of an identity, and not try and strip that away."
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a scathing report, "Bud Light sales continue to plummet after transgender marketing controversy," that put a spotlight on the massive decline. (LightRocket via Getty Images)