Transgender Actor And Comedian SLAMS Bud Light's "Insincere" Partnership With Dylan Mulvaney

In an interview with AdAge, Harvie said, "I don't believe in the allyship of Anheuser-Busch. It's not about diversity, it's about dollars." Harvie's comments come after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney was announced as a Bud Light partner to promote the March Madness basketball tournament last month, which has prompted ridicule and backlash from the media and the public in recent weeks.

Harvie said he didn't believe the allyship was accurate then and admitted that even though he liked the ad's message, it was mainly about the money for him too. "It was about the dollars for me, too, honestly," he said. "I'm a working comic actor. I was thrilled to be in the presence of Amy Schumer and glad to get a nice paycheck from that. I'm 30 years sober—I don't even drink. I didn't believe in the allyship from the get-go."

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The 2016 ad featured Harvie, along with Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, who didn't use the word "transgender" but did say, "Gender identity—it's a spectrum, and we don't need these labels" and "Beer should have labels, not people."

May 04, 2023

Harvie echoed a sentiment expressed by many progressives and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in recent weeks, who feel the company has not shown adequate support for Mulvaney and the transgender community amid the controversy. "It is disturbing that there's no statement of support [for Mulvaney]," Harvie told Ad Age. "They should have doubled down. They should have said, 'You think it's offensive to have a trans person promoting Bud Light? Well, here's ten more.'"

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Harvie said Mulvaney's campaign differs from the 2016 ad because trans women face more hate than trans men. "As much as I do feel scared and in danger—I just traveled to Florida, and my eyes were peeled for sure—the truth is that transphobic responses are so much more visceral around trans women than trans men," he said. "This is largely rooted in misogyny and transphobia combined."

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Since Bud Light's partnership with Mulvaney, in-store sales of the beer have dropped 26% during the week that ended April 22, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Anheuser Busch also saw its market value decrease by $5 billion recently, but Harvie said he thinks those boycotting Bud Light will return to the beer. "The truth is that Kid Rock and his followers are still going to drink it," he said. "They're going to scream about it, but they'll keep drinking it. It doesn't change the taste or the price point for them. They're not microbrew-heads."

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Two Anheuser-Busch marketing executives have taken a leave of absence because of the controversy surrounding its partnership with Mulvaney. One of those executives, Bud Light's marketing VP, Alissa Heinerscheid, was caught on camera days before Mulvaney made her Bud Light debut, airing her thoughts on the beer brand and its drinkers. "We had this hangover; I mean, Bud Light had been kind of a brand of fratty, kind of out of touch humor, and it was really important that we had another approach," she said.

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Heinerscheid suggested that "representation is sort of at the heart of evolution, you have got to see people who reflect you in the work." She explained that what she "brought" to the brand was a "belief" that to evolve and elevate means to incorporate "inclusivity, it means shifting the tone, it means having a campaign that's truly inclusive, and feels lighter and brighter and different, and appeals to women and to men." "I'm a businesswoman, I had a really clear job to do when I took over Bud Light, and it was 'This brand is in decline, it's been in a decline for a really long time, and if we do not attract young drinkers to come and drink this brand there will be no future for Bud Light,'" Heinerscheid said.