A trans influencer who was once locked up on Rikers Island touted she loves “to pregame with an ice cold Bud Light” — sparking another round of backlash on the heels of the brand’s Dylan Mulvaney fiasco.
Linux — a transgender woman who previously made headlines when she landed in Rikers Island’s mens prison after being wrongly incarcerated for an undisclosed alleged crime in Miami — posted the video on April 21.
Although apparently not a paid spokesperson like Dylan Mulvaney, Linux took it upon herself to advocate for the Anheuser-Busch-made beer with the hashtag #budlightpartner on Instagram and TikTok, where she boasts 84,000 and 17,100 followers, respectively.
“So it’s Friday night, I’m getting ready to go out … but before I go out, I gotta pregame. And the only way I pregame is with an ice cold Bud Light,” she says in the 22-second clip while cracking open a tallboy of the beer.
“Mm, so good,” she adds.
The video has since been shared on Twitter, catching the attention of nearly 2 million users, who were swift to say Bud Light’s “title as gay beer has been solidified” after being endorsed by both Linux and Mulvaney.
“I guess Bud Light finally got the new consumer base they have been marketing towards,” another user tweeted.
“Not helping sales” another replied, nodding to the dip in revenue Bud Light’s seen since it sent a custom can to Mulvaney to celebrate her “365 Days of Girlhood” and sparked outrage among its conservative consumer base.
For the week ending May 6, Bud Light reported the fifth consecutive week of worsening sales.
Nationwide retail sales of Bud Light sales dropped 23.6% versus a year ago during the week ended May 6 — slightly worse than the 23.3% decline for the week ended April 29, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data.
“This is Bud Light’s new target customer base. If their marketing efforts were to try and attract a new group of folks to A/B [Anheuser-Busch], congrats! You successfully got the .05% of the population that identifies this way… only problem is you pissed off the other 75% that you used to have,” another Twitter user declared.
In the comments section of Linux’s Instagram post sharing the video, many are reveling in the backlash the video is causing.
“Yayzzzz! The conservatives have their panties in a bunch!!! They can’t handle it!” commented trans woman Love Bailey.
“The rednecks are shaking!!” another wrote.
Anheuser-Busch did not respond to noti.group’s request for comment.
Two months after Mulvaney faced intense heat from partnering with Bud Light, other trans influencers have said they’re having a harder time scoring brand deals.
Some told The Post that, at a time when they are usually in high demand — the period leading up to Pride Month in June — brand partnership offers are drying up.
Rose Montoya, who has 1 million followers on TikTok and Instagram, said she’s noticed a big drop-off in the number of deals she’s been offered.
This time last year, the 27-year-old trans star recalled fielding up to 100 requests to partner with her.
Now, she said, that’s been reduced to a mere 12.
Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light sellers also continue to deal with the aftermath of the beer’s Mulvaney partnership.
Most recently, a seller stuck with too many cases of the unsold brew offered $20 rebates on purchases of a $19.98 case of beer.
In a photo posted to Twitter by user Ed Latimore, a 24-can case of Bud Light is pictured with a promo taped to it touting a full pay-back from the unidentified beer vendor.
Nationwide retail sales of the brand were down 23.6% versus a year ago in the week ending May 6 — its fifth straight week of declines, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ data.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
