Anheuser-Busch, the company which produces Bud Light, has suspended two executives responsible for two instagram posts featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. One of the two executives had their replacement named, making clear that they lost their job.
Ad Age was the first to report that Alissa Heinerscheid, Bud Light's vice president of marketing, was placed on leave. Todd Allen, most recently Budweiser's vice president of global marketing, is set to replace her. Daniel Blake, Anheuser-Busch's vice president who oversees market for mainstream brands, was also put on leave, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Mulvaney received a customized can of Bud Light, one of many sent to influencers, and posted about it on her page. The conservative backlash against Mulvaney's posts was broad and nasty, with right-wing celebrities competing to be seen destroying or disposing of cans of bud light. Singer Kid Rock filmed himself shooting cases of the drink with a rifle, and death threats were sent to Anheuser-Busch staff and Mulvaney.
Alissa Heinerscheid was the company's first woman marketing chief and will be replaced by a man named Todd.
Everyone can now be in agreement: Bud Light is a drink for no-one.
The backlash against Bud Light and Mulvaney comes against a backdrop of legislation targeting transgender people and the growth of anti-trans rhetoric among conservative politicians.
The House last Thursday passed a GOP-led bill banning transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports at federally funded schools and educational institutions. The bill is not expected to be taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Pushes for other anti-trans measures have ramped up in Republican-led states, such as bans on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth in Idaho and Indiana.
More broadly, a record 417 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year, according to American Civil Liberties Union data as of April 3. That's more than twice the number of such bills introduced in 2022.
