Monday’s CBS Mornings had a syrupy puff piece by contributor Natalie Morales on “trans influencer” Dylan Mulvaney ahead of a memoir’s release, lamenting all the “painful” “trans hate” Mulvaney faced due to the Bud Light debacle and claiming Mulvaney thought of dying by suicide because people opposed it.
No opposing viewpoint. All fluffy-yet-pointed demands everyone embrace transgenderism or the threats of suicides loom. It makes sense once you consider this was the show Bud Light parent company Anheuser Busch chose to appear on in June 2023 to defend their actions.
The idiocy began with first of two teases by co-host Vlad Duthiers: “And Natalie Morales talks with transgender trailblazer Dylan Mulvaney, who’s out with a new book about her transition and facing down hate by finding joy in her life.”
Duthiers’s second tease was even dumber: “Alright, ahead, trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney opens up about her journey and navigating the painful fallout from the controversy over an ad campaign for Bud Light. We’ll be right back.”
Co-host and Democrat donor Gayle King had the lead-in to the interview, swooning “Dylan Mulvaney burst onto the scene as a TikTok star” before fretting “perhaps what made her most famous was controversy” and “was targeted after appearing in...a one-off campaign” for Bud Light.
Morales immediately started force-feeding viewers grist over Mulvaney as “a viral sensation as she shared her journey”....from being a man to pretending to be a woman.
Mulvaney hawked the memoir as containing “a lot more heart than social media ever can have.”
She next gushed over how a four-year-old Mulvaney allegedly insisted to mother Donna Mulvaney that “God made a mistake” by making him a boy.
“I knew I was a girl. That was one of the purest thoughts and intentions I’ve ever had throughout my entire life was to be brought into this world, into so clearly know who I was, and then, to be told otherwise, is conflicting,” Mulvaney claimed.
Instead of simply being gay, Morales said Mulvaney spent a decade having “many difficult conversations with her family to embrace her identity as a trans woman” after realizing “I was a very feminine kid” and loved pink....so I guess why not switch?
It was next that Bud Light came into frame and how the fact that this wasn’t joyfully embraced nearly caused Mulvaney to commit suicide.
Morales framed the Bud Light promotion as something everyone should have embraced: “As her profile grew as an influencer...brands took notice and wanted to team up...But, in 2023, she joined many celebs in partnering with Bud Light”
Instead of explaining why sensible found this as lunacy and Bud Light misreading their audience, Morales blamed it all on irrational hate: “But her content was singled out, leading to trans hate and boycotts.”
Mulvaney said in the clip above that the hubbub — which saw Anheuser Busch’s “revenue fall by more than 10 percent” — was difficult “because felt like it was my fault and...affecting trans people globally. I think extremists and transphobic media needed a poster child[.]”
Mulvaney added this “resulted in a lot of suicidal ideation and disassociation. I’m still battling with some of that guilt and that shame and that dysphoria that was projected onto me.”
On a comical note, Morales insisted “Mulvaney...never wanted to be an activist but has found herself navigating the society that’s not always supportive of trans rights” and lobbed a softball about President Trump’s common sense executive order declaring basic biology.
In response, Mulvaney claimed it won’t “change any way I think about myself because I’m a woman no matter what my passport says” and argued trans Americans are “not hurting anyone” since “we’re less than one percent of the population.”
The end of interview was ridiculous, down to the notion that allowing “gender-affirming care” for children is necessary and a matter of “life or death” and Mulvaney declaring a lack of affirmation and support of his lifestyle “make[s]” life “harder” (click “expand”):
MORALES: The Trump administration wanted to ban it for those under 19. A federal court blocked that for now. [TO MULVANEY] And what do you say to those who question gender-affirming care, believing that it could be irreversible —
MULVANEY: Sure.
MORALES: — and lead to problems later on in life, even cause regrets?
MULVANEY: I don’t have the lived experience of a trans child that was able to seek out that care. But I ultimately do believe that parents know their child better than a government does. We should let those families figure out what is best for them.
MORALES: Mulvaney believes she’s on the best path for her. [TO MULVANEY] What do you want people to see and know about you?
MULVANEY: I want people to know that I am just trying my best and that I am deeply flawed, and I would ask them to please not make it harder for us.
MORALES: You’re getting emotional as you say this.
MULVANEY: Yeah, it’s hard not to and I think — I am now realizing that this is life or death, you know, for a lot of people. I want every trans person to have the opportunity to thrive, and unfortunately, we’re living in a time where it is very hard to do so.
Back live, King complained the “whole thing was so unfortunate for her and Bud Light” and “we live in a society today where there are things that are different, and we need to at least make an effort to understand and embrace that I think.”
Duthiers joined in while co-host Tony Dokoupil seemed like most of America feels about that whole situation (click “expand”):
KING: Dylan Mulvaney’s book, Paper Doll: Notes From a Late Bloomer, goes on sale tomorrow. I’m glad she’s written a book. I’m glad she’s telling her story. I always thought that whole thing was so unfortunate for her and Bud Light, to be honest with you. I mean, we live in a society today where there are things that are different, and we need to at least make an effort to understand and embrace that I think.
DUTHIERS: And that’s what she’s doing by writing the book.
KING: And that’s what she’s doing.
DUTHIERS: Helping people understand.
KING: Yeah.
TONY DOKOUPIL: Seems like it was damaging for Bud Light and for her to hear her write about it.
DUTHIERS: I’m glad that she’s sharing that story.
KING: Me too.
DUTHIERS: A lot of people will learn a lot from her.
KING: I think it will help many.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from March 10, click here.
