CNN apologises after journalists misgender Dylan Mulvaney in ‘unbelievably bad’ Bud Light report
CNN News Central host Kate Bolduan apologised on behalf of the network after a segment repeatedly misgendered Dylan Mulvaney. (Getty/CNN)
CNN has publicly apologised after one of its reporters misgendered Dylan Mulvaney multiple times during a segment on Bud Light.
The American news broadcaster was widely criticised over a Tuesday (11 July) news segment in which national correspondent Ryan Young used incorrect pronouns for the trans influencer while discussing Bud Light’s stock prices.
The beer brand, as well as its parent company Anheuser-Busch, became the target of a severe right-wing backlash after sending Mulvaney a personalised can to celebrate the one year anniversary of her “Days of Girlhood” TikTok series.
Anheuser-Busch came under fire once again for appearing to drop Mulvaney in a widely-condemned statement in which the brand said it did not want to be part of a discussion that “divides people”.
While trying to explain the history behind the backlash, Young used the wrong pronouns for Mulvaney twice, while CNN News Central host Kate Bolduan did nothing to correct him.
The segment was also criticised for a brief report in which journalists interviewed three members of the public – none of the three interviewed offered any explicit support for Mulvaney and two made anti-LGBTQ+ remarks.
One of the individuals said that he believed Americans “just don’t want it shoved down their throat”, while a grandmother said “we don’t need to put that in young kids heads”. By “it” and “that”, it can be assumed that the two members of the pubic were referring to trans people.
Another, while not explicitly stating his own feelings on the matter, said that a person in a bar refused to drink the beer and that patrons “rolled their eyes” at him.
In its subsequent apology on Wednesday (12 July), Bolduan apologised on behalf of CNN for the misgendering of Mulvaney during CNN News Central.
“Yesterday in a segment about transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who was featured in Bud Light’s recent campaign, she was mistakenly referred to by the wrong pronouns,” she said.
“CNN aims to honour individuals’ ways of identifying themselves and we apologise for that error.”
In a tweet prior to the apology, Media Matters LGBTQ+ news programme director Ari Dennen called the segment “unbelievably bad” and outlined the reasons why.
“Fails to interrogate where the Bud Light boycott came from,” she wrote. “Launders perspectives of people who think their grandchildren will be harmed by the knowledge that trans people exist.
“This segment could’ve run on Fox News.”
Independent journalist Erin Reed similarly pleaded with CNN to “bring trans people on to talk about trans news”.
Reed added: “This was a terrible segment, it misgenders Dylan. Horrific.”
Despite the ongoing right-wing outrage surrounding Mulvaney for simply existing, the trans influencer is too busy enjoying her life to care – with a new blonde look to boot.
After returning from a trip to Peru, which she said was partly to “feel safe” from the growing backlash in the US, she returned to reveal her recent platinum blonde look was actually a wig and that she was planning to dye her hair soon.
Mulvaney did just that in a Friday (14 July) TikTok clip revealing her new bleach-blonde hair to the remixed tune of Marina’s “Primadonna”.
And of course, the internet is already obsessed.
“I live for the blonde,” one commenter wrote, while another simply posted: “WE MUST ALL BOW DOWN.”
