Bud Light is set to sponsor the 2023 NFL Draft this month amid controversy after the beer brand partnered with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, a man who announced in March 2022 that he was now a woman and hosts a TikTok series called “Days of Girlhood.”
Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, issued a statement Friday, where CEO Brendan Whitworth said, “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
Nike has also received backlash for partnering with Mulvaney after Nike Women paid Mulvaney — a man — to promote women’s bras:
“People are pissed, and justifiably so,” Donald Trump Jr. said during an episode of his podcast, Triggered. “Anheuser Busch is an iconic American company. This is Budweiser, you know, with the Clydesdales with the football and bald eagles.”
The publicity debacle has caused financial losses for the beer company to the tune of over $6 billion. “Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev have dropped nearly five percent after Dylan Mulvaney announced the Bud Light deal at the beginning of the month, wiping out $6.65 billion of the company’s market capitalization,” Breitbart News reported Wednesday.
The 2023 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 27, at 8 p.m. Eastern at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, and marks the first time Kansas City has hosted the NFL Draft since 1936. The Carolina Panthers have the No. 1 overall pick, after trading with the Chicago Bears for the top spot on March 10. The Panthers have not had the No. 1 pick since 2011, when the team selected Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
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