Dylan Mulvaney addressed the vitriol leveled at her following her partnerships with Bud Light and Nike.
The TikToker, famed for her Days of Girlhood series, was the subject of anti-trans backlash earlier this month after she posted a video with a personalized can sent to her from Bud Light, marking her journey through 365 days of womanhood and promoting the brand's March Madness efforts.
Anti-trans garbage hurled at Dylan increased after they posted a video promoting Nike's leggings and sports bras, leading the sportswear company to emphasize its policies on “hate speech” and encourage its customers to be "kind" and "inclusive."
As for Anheuser-Busch (Bud Light's parent company) CEO Brendan Whitworth, he said, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer."
Dylan herself kept fairly quiet on the issue, alluding to it in a video where they explained, "I haven't been making as many videos. There's been a lot going on and I was feeling a little down today."
"I’ve been offline for a few weeks and a lot has been said about me, some of which is so far from my truth that I was, like, hearing my name and I didn’t even know who they were talking about sometimes. It's a very dissociative feeling. It was so loud that I didn’t even feel part of the conversation, so I decided to take the backseat and just let them tucker themselves out,” they continued.
Saying that the support she felt from her followers was what encouraged her to come back, she continued, "I'm doing okay and I'm doing this new thing where I don't pressure myself to share anything before I'm ready."
Dylan said, “I’ve been having crazy déjà vu because I’m an adult, I’m 26, and throughout childhood, I was called too feminine and over-the-top. Here I am now, being called all of those same things, but this time it’s from other adults. If they’re going to accuse me of anything, it should be that I’m a theater person and that I’m camp. But this is just my personality, and it always has been.”
They added, "What I’m struggling with most is that I grew up in a conservative family and I’m extremely privileged, because they still love me very much. And I grew up in the church. I still have my faith, which I am really trying to hold on to right now.”
Dylan continued, “But I’ve always tried to love everyone, even the people that make it really, really hard. And I think it’s OK to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I don’t think that’s right.”
They added, "I'm embarrassed to even tell you this, but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things that they were saying about me, since it is so loud. But I’m going to go ahead and trust that the people that know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise.”
“In my next life, I would love to be someone nonconfrontational and uncontroversial. God, that sounds nice," she said at the video's climax. "The good news is that the people pleaser in me has nearly died, because there's clearly no way of winning over everyone."
