Shane Gillis performs onstage during the 17th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Benefit presented by Bob Woodruff Foundation and NY Comedy Festival at David Geffen Hall on November 06, 2023 in New York City Source: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation
Jan 31
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Dylan who?
Almost a year after being accused of leaving transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney high and dry when anti-LGBTQ+ right-wingers targeted the brand for having partnered with her, Bud Light seems to be courting right-wing consumers by taking up with comedian Shane Gillis. Gillis isa conservative funnyman who in 2019 was famously dropped as a cast member by "Saturday Night Live" after only five days due to the racial slurs and hom*ophobic content of past jokes that came to light.
Gillis, in an Instagram post marked "paid partnership with budlight," announced the new arrangement on Instagram on Jan. 30, captioning a group of photos of himself at a brewery with, "Excited to announce partnership with Bud Light #budlightpartner".
The Street called the development "somewhat shocking because Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) CEO Michel Doukeris said during his company's second-quarter earnings call that he intended to avoid making political statements."
"Our consumers across all sentiment groups have three points of feedback in common," the article quoted Doukeris as saying. "One, they want to enjoy their beer without a debate. Two, they want Bud Light to focus on beer. Three, they want Bud Light to concentrate on the platforms that all consumers love, such as NFL, Fields of Honor, and music."
The Street noted: "After that statement was made, however, the company then immediately became the largest sponsor of UFC, the mixed martial arts group run by Dana White, a friend and supporter of Donald Trump who has done nothing to stop his fighters from going on anti-transgender rants."
These gestures are just the latest in a long and strange saga of corporate America clashing with virulently anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives and, while trying to appease them, crossing another significant share of the market: the LGBTQ+ community itself.
Conservative wrath came down on Bud Light last March after Mulvaney, who had been documenting her life as a woman, shared a celebratory novelty can with her face printed on it in a video otherwise dedicated to March Madness. Bud Light had gifted Mulvaney with the one-off item in acknowledgement of the influencer having posted about her "Days of Girlhood," a kind of video diary about her transition experience, for an entire year.
The "scandal" spun so out of control that conservatives soon began inundating social media with violent imagery of Bud Light being destroyed by the case... sometimes with machine guns, as in a disturbing video posted by Kid Rock. Conservatives also mounted a boycott targeting Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch that, unlike most such actions, actually cost Anheuser-Busch billions of dollars and knocked Bud Light from its perch as America's best-selling light beer.
Emboldened, anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives started targeting other corporations they deemed to be too friendly toward the LGBTQ+ community. Their animus fell on companies like the North Face and Target, the latter of which saw staff members harassed and Pride displays attacked by violently hom*ophobic and transphobic shoppers.
Bud Light has been trying to mitigate the fallout ever since. This latest move seems to be of a piece with the brand's efforts to placate the extreme right, but the comments left at Gillis' Instagram post announcing the deal with Bud Light suggest that the beer-drinking public – right and left alike – might not be so quick to forget.
"f*cking Shane Gillis is trans?" one person snarked, while another posted, "Kinda gay Shane, I saw this post and said wow this is kinda gay".
"Diversity hire for sure," a third person commented; a fourth called the partnership "The perfect counter move by bud light."
"I'm not gay no more. I am delivered!" another posted.
Like fellow controversial comic Dave Chappelle, Gillis has had comedy specials on Netflix, including "Beautiful Dogs," in which, The New York Times recounted, Gillis told jokes that seemed to straddle the left/right divide to some extent... though the example the Times provided illustrated the comedian's reliance on anti-gay tropes.
"What, are we going to give up our guns like a bunch of gay guys?" Gillis asks during a routine about traveling to Europe and being quizzed about America's ongoing epidemic of mass shootings. "No, we're just going to have shootings all the time" –the punchline delivered in a rueful manner.
Despite the Times' characterization, Gillis is still known as a right-wing comic. It remains to be seen if Bud Light can change its own perceptions in the minds of conservative beer drinkers and regain its former stature –though there is already some hope. None other than Kid Rock has reportedly been spotted guzzling the brew months after riddling cases of Bud Light with bullets.
by Kilian Melloy , EDGE Staff Reporter
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
