Anheuser-Busch’s partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney has sparked backlash from conservatives, with some social media users claiming the collaboration has led to turmoil at the beer company.
An April 6 Facebook post shared a screenshot from a blog with the headline, “Anheuser-Busch CEO resigns as Bud Light sales plummet to record low.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
In the final days of the NCAA basketball tournament, Bud Light, a brand of Anheuser-Busch, partnered with Mulvaney to promote a contest the beer company was holding. Mulvaney is known for documenting her gender transition on TikTok.
In response, some conservative social media pundits and celebrities, including singers Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, have said they are boycotting the brand.
The Facebook post provided no link or source for this claim. A text search revealed it originated from a Dunning-Kruger Times blog post. That blog post itself is not labeled satire, but the website’s About Us page says, “everything on this website is fiction.”
The blog post’s details serve as further evidence that the claim is fabricated. The post claims someone named “CEO Augustus Anheuser III” resigned, but that name is made up.
The company’s CEO is Brendan Whitworth and there have been no reports of his resignation. August Anheuser-Busch III, great-grandson of Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch, is a former CEO of the beer company.
Anheuser-Busch confirmed to The Associated Press that this claim “is inaccurate and there is no truth to it.”
We rate the claim that the Anheuser-Busch CEO resigned after the company partnered with Mulvaney False.
This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.
