In response to a transphobic uproar by conservatives over a Bud Light ad campaign with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth released a statement on Friday that attempted to calm things down a bit.
But Whitworth’s statement, released via the company’s twitter account, contained no specific acknowledgement of the uproar, and expressed no position one way or the other on the complaints right wingers had about the campaign, or the issues of trans rights and bigotry against the LGBTQ community. It did however contain vague paeans to national unity and public service — and a sentimental tribute to the uniting power of the company’s libations.
“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” Whitworth said in part.
Well, he succeeded in that goal — albeit not in the way he planned. People on both sides of the political divide did indeed come together, but only to criticize the statement. Conservatives remained outraged that the company didn’t apologize. Supporters of trans rights called out Anheuser-Busch for appearing to distance itself from the LGBTQ community it courted with the original campaign. And pretty much everyone made fun of the statement’s neutrality, as well as what many, many, many of them dismissed as substance–free “word salad.”
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“Pathetic statement from @AnheuserBusch CEO,” Democratic commentator Kaivan Schroff wrote. “To be clear they sent a trans influencer personalized cans of Budlight. [sic] That’s not “dividing” people. Caving to these hateful bigots is what divides our country. Shame on you, Brendan Whitworth. Epic leadership fail.”
“Referring to specific people’s right to exist as a “discussion that divides people” is fucking reprehensible,” another user said.
“If you didnt already know what this was referring to, you would have no idea what they were talking about. if you DID know what it was referring to, you already had an opinion that wouldn’t be changed by this statement. whats the point,” wrote journalist Libby Watson.
From the Republican side of things, commentator Matt Walsh, who has unsurprisingly been one of the most vocal opponents of the Bud Light campaign, called the statement “just as clumsy and stupid as the marketing stunt that got them into this mess in the first place.”
Another conservative critic wrote, “Damn @AnheuserBusch you must have been drunk when you wrote this apology. You still are clueless and this does NOTHING!”
You can check out more criticisms of the statement below. Note that we have not included responses that contain transphobic hate speech.