Dylan Mulvaney has returned to TikTok.
The actress and influencer was at the center of an onslaught of transphobia following a simple March Madness ad with beer brand Bud Light that went viral for all the wrong reasons. It quickly incited a national boycott from conservatives and transphobes alike. Country singer Kid Rock even filmed himself shooting several Bud Light cases with a submachine gun and sales of the beer brand reportedly dropped by 17%. And during all this, Mulvaney received an incredible amount of scrutiny and hate in the media.
After an extended break from social media, Mulvaney is back on TikTok to share her thoughts on the drama and love with her fans.
“I've been offline for a few weeks and a lot has been said about me," she began. "Some of which is so far from my truth that I was hearing my name and I didn’t know who they were talking about sometimes. It was a very dissociative feeling. It was so loud that I didn’t even feel part of the conversation so I decided to take the backseat.”
She says she returned to talk directly to her fans, which she has 10.8 million on TikTok. "I'm doing okay, and I'm trying this new thing where I don’t pressure myself to share anything before she’s ready. I'm sitting with my emotions," she says. "Shockingly I can't recommend it more. Therapy is paying off here people."
She then began to share some thoughts. "I've been having crazy deja vu. I'm an adult. I'm 26. And throughout childhood, I was called too feminine and over the top. Here I am now being called all those same things but now it's from other adults. If they're gonna accuse me of anything, it's that I'm a theater person and I'm camp, but this is just my personality. Always has been."
“What I’m struggling with most is that I grew up in a conservative family, and I’m extremely privileged because they still love me very much. And I grew up in the church, and I still have my faith, which I am really trying to hold onto right now. But I’ve always tried to love everyone, you know, even the people who make it really, really hard. And I think it’s okay to be frustrated with someone or confused, but what I’m struggling to understand is the need to dehumanize and to be cruel. I just, I don’t think that’s right. Dehumanization has never fixed anything in history, ever.”
Then she shared something vulnerable with her followers. "I'm embarrassed to even tell you this but I was nervous that you were going to start believing those things they were saying since it is so loud. But I’m just going to go ahead and trust that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to that noise."
Ultimately, Mulvaney just wants to be seen as a human being.
“What I’m interested in is getting back to making people laugh and to never stop learning. And going forward, I wanna share parts of me on here that have nothing to do with my identity. And I’m hoping those parts will still be exciting to you and will be enough. And to those of you who support me and choose to see my humanity even if you don’t fully understand or relate to me: thank you.”
If reincarnation is a thing, she says she hopes to be someone "nonconfrontational and uncontroversial" in the next life. "God, that sounds nice." But a positive did come out of all this. "The people pleaser in me has nearly died because clearly there's no way to win over everyone."
She ends the three-and-a-half-minute video with a promise. "Talk soon."
