CNN apologized Wednesday for misgendering trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a segment that aired earlier this week.
The network addressed the mistake live on air.
“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,” anchor Kate Bolduan said. “CNN aims to honor individuals ways of identifying themselves and we apologize for that error.”
On Tuesday, the network’s national correspondent Ryan Young presented the criticized segment, which involved on-the-street interviews with people about the Bud Light controversy. In a clip that ran a little over two minutes, Young referred to Mulvaney as both “he” and “him.”
Neither Young nor Bolduan corrected the mistake.
Mulvaney came out as a transgender during the COVID-19 pandemic and gained attention for their tongue-in-cheek TikTok series that started with “Day 1 of Being a Girl.” Mulvaney has also said in the past that their pronouns are she/they.
Media Matters reporter Ari Drennen uploaded a clip of the segment on Twitter and slammed it as an “unbelievably bad CNN segment.” Drennen went on to note that the segment failed to fully explain the full story behind the Bud Light boycott and criticized it both for misgendering Mulvaney and for polling a woman who believes children will be harmed by knowing trans people exist. “This segment could’ve run on Fox News!”
The comments below Drennen’s tweet call the segment “weirdly transphobic,” “horrible coverage” and criticized it as providing a both-sides approach to transphobia.
“God damn, that sucked,” wrote Media Matters research director Craig Harrington.
The replies to Drennen’s tweet are also filled with transphobic responses from Dulvaney’s critics.
Mulvaney has become the central figure of the ongoing boycott around Bud Light. In April, Anheuser-Busch began a sponsorship with Mulvaney, sending them a special edition can with their face on it. Mulvaney’s video triggered a robust anti-trans backlash against the company that has substantially impacted its stock.
