On July 26, actress, content creator, and transgender rights activist Dylan Mulvaney posted a TikTok responding to President Donald Trump after he mocked her at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. And, in true Mulvaney fashion, her response is super empowering.
At the event, which took place on July 24, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins accepted the “Excellence Under Deadline Pressure” award. Shortly after, Trump delivered a speech and disparaged Collins, saying that she “never smiles” and told her that she should be smiling due to her position at CNN. He also went on to “joke” that he had previously confused Collins with Mulvaney, saying “I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship, but then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.”
The ad Trump referenced was posted by Mulvaney back in April 2023. In the Instagram video, Mulvaney explained how Bud Light (an Anheuser-Busch company) had sent her beer cans with her face on them as a gift to celebrate a year of being a trans woman. This ad led to a massive boycott from conservatives, eventually causing Bud Light to lose its spot as America’s top-selling beer after sales dropped 23% in May 2023. “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said in a statement following the backlash.
In his speech, Trump further criticized Mulvaney for the ad. “Dylan Mulvaney cost Bud Light $35 billion in market cap,” he said. “That was the worst commercial ever made, by the way, for those few people who want to hear that. Most people don’t care, but I would. I wouldn’t want to hire Dylan any time soon.”
Then, on July 26, Trump reinforced these mocking statements by posting an AI image of Collins’ face on Mulvaney’s body in the same place the Bud Light ad was shot. However, later that day, Mulvaney struck back, posting a TikTok that quickly went viral and started with, “The president of the United States said my name in his speech four times Friday night.”
In Mulvaney’s response, she first praised Collins for winning the award. “I’m incredibly honored to be compared to her in any way,” Mulvaney said. “And I hope that she keeps doing all the great work.”
Mulvaney also explained that she had been recently ghosted by a hookup, and the experience made her want to stand up for herself and helped her cope with the criticism. “I shouldn’t want to be with someone who doesn’t really want to be with me — so maybe I shouldn’t want to be professionally supported by an administration that doesn’t personally support me or so many others in this country,” she said. “Maybe being publicly mocked and criticized by this administration is actually the greatest compliment of all.”Â
Mulvaney continued her response by explaining that Trump’s criticism actually puts her in the company of great, empathetic people who do support her. “I am free in a way that they will never have the privilege to experience, and they want to use their power to take away my freedom, but what they don’t understand is that my freedom has like zero contingency on what they can provide for me,” Mulvaney said. “Because my freedom is fully dependent on the moment that I acknowledge my real, authentic self every day, and sharing that with the world is just icing on the cake. But they don’t want me to be able to share that because it would mean young people realizing that if someone like me can be themselves and find success and freedom, then they can find success and freedom for themselves too.”
Mulvaney then gave trans advocates three “action items” to complete if they want to support trans folks under the current administration. “Number one, support trans and non-binary people. This is the time. I am sounding the alarm,” she said. “We need you to stand up for us, vote for us, donate to our causes, hire us, support the businesses who hire us, but most importantly, love us.”
Additionally, Mulvaney called on allies to continue to accept trans folks, and not succumb to judgement for supporting them. “Ladies, when they tell you that you look like a trans woman, wear it like a medal,” she said.
Finally, Mulvaney concluded her response with a statement directly to Trump. “Thank you for reminding me that I am more powerful than I even knew,” she said. “And to quote my favorite recording artist Shea Diamond, ‘I am America.'”