CNN slammed for ‘unbelievably bad’ Bud Light report misgendering Dylan Mulvaney
CNN was slammed for its news segment on Dylan Mulvaney and the Bud Light backlash. (CNN/Instagram/Dylan Mulvaney)
CNN has been criticised for a recent news report on the Bud Light boycott during which a journalist misgendered Dylan Mulvaney, and for providing a platform for anti-LGBTQ+ members of the public.
The segment, which ran early on Tuesday (11 July) on CNN News Central, was published on Twitter after pro-LGBTQ+ users claimed it was “unbelievably bad.”
Media Matters LGBTQ+ news programme director, Ari Drennen, wrote that she believed the segment failed to “interrogate where the Bud Light boycott came from” and “launders perspectives of people who think their grandchildren will be harmed by the knowledge that trans people exist.”
She added: “This segment could’ve run on Fox News.”
During the report, CNN national correspondent Ryan Young spoke to people about having LGBTQ+ issues “shoved down their throat”, shared views from a grandmother about children being supposedly influenced by trans collaborations. Young also misgenders Mulvaney during a live report.
It also reported from a bar where only one person had refused to drink Bud Light, despite the overwhelming online response to the beer brand.
The backlash against Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, arose after they gave trans influencer Mulvaney a personalised beer can to celebrate the first anniversary of her “days of girlhood” TikTok series.
Transphobes across the US and beyond began sharing their outrage and called for a boycott, shooting packs full of the beer, destroying supermarket displays and even attacking those though to drink Bud Light.
Things then took a turn, however, after Anheuser-Busch chief executive, Brendan Whitworth, stated that he “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people”. The company dropped Mulvaney, causing pro-LGBTQ+ bars to stop stocking the beer.
‘Misgendering on live TV’
As well as criticisms from Drennen, several other notable pro-LGBTQ+ activists had their say on the Bud Light news segment.
Independent journalist Erin Reed pleaded with CNN to “bring trans people on to talk about trans news.”
Reed added: “This was a terrible segment, it misgenders Dylan. Horrific.”
Others asked why a CNN national correspondent [Ryan Young] was “misgendering someone on live TV,” saying that the entire segment was about Mulvaney, and so the least the news channel could do was respect her pronouns.
“The correspondent had no idea what he was talking about,” another said.
Users also criticised the use of the phrase “culture war” as a way of trivialising the injustices that LGBTQ+ people face.
