Dylan Mulvaney demands companies to commit to LGBTQ partners

Trans woman Dylan Mulvaney urged companies that are serious about progressive activism to be true allies to diverse talent and not abandon them “when the going gets tough.”

In one of her first major interviews since the Bud Light boycott, Mulvaney demanded that companies get more serious about their diversity initiatives.

The social media influencer said companies need to establish strong bonds with their progressive allies rather than promoting them in a “performative” way.

Mulvaney made the statements in a recent interview at the 2023 Forbes CMO Summit in Miami, Tuesday. They included what appeared to be a veiled dig at Bud Light, which she accused in June of declining to support her when she received backlash for the marketing partnership that began last April.

Speaking to Seth Matlins, managing director of the Forbes CMO Network, Mulvaney cited her own experience of being the brunt of “hate and vitriol” after the Bud Light partnership to call companies to take their relationships with progressive activists and diverse employees more seriously. 

“If you’re going to ask us to capitalize on our vulnerabilities and our traumas, at least have our backs when the going gets tough,” Mulvaney declared at the summit.

Advising the marketing executives and business leaders at the event on how to foster that commitment, Mulvaney said that companies must build a “connection between the partner and the brand.” 

Forbes’ coverage of its event noted how Mulvaney argued that companies should not just hire diverse or progressive spokespeople for marketing campaigns, but “push for diversity in the boardroom and on their consulting staff.”

The transgender TikTok star proclaimed, “If you’re not sitting on the table, you’re on the menu.”

She also urged companies who do hire trans people to not give in when backlash ensues: “Supporting and hiring trans people should not be political, and the people making it out to be— they’re bigots. And we should not let them win.”

Also during the summit, Mulvaney gave her thoughts on what a more inclusive Bud Light campaign would look like. Forbes reported that she described “her own idea for a commercial set in a western saloon.” 

“She said she envisions a trans woman on the opposite side of the saloon as a famous cowboy walks in, and the camera zooms in as their respective high heels and cowboy boots walk toward one another. As the camera pans out, they crack a beer together with the line ‘There’s room for all of us beer drinkers in this town,’” the outlet wrote.

In June, Mulvaney accused Bud Light of refusing to support her while she received criticism and ridicule following boycott of the beer brand. 

In a social media video shared that month, she said, “For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring a trans person at all, because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.”

Mulvaney’s team did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.