Paws up, claws out: Lady Gaga has no time for the “backlash” over Dylan Mulvaney.
Mulvaney, 27, found herself a target of trolls after sharing photos and videos with Gaga, 37, on Friday, March 8, for International Women’s Day. In an attempt to quiet the commentary, Gaga posted another photo of the pair on Monday, March 11, calling out the anti-trans “vitriol and hatred” sent Mulvaney’s way.
Instead of referring to the comments as “backlash,” Gaga wrote that “it is important to clarify that hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence. ‘Backlash’ would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred.”
She declared that she felt “protective” of Mulvaney and the trans community who continue to “lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence,” adding that the intense reaction was “not surprising given the immense work that it’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us.”
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Gaga emphasized that while she doesn’t speak for the trans community as a cis-gendered woman, she wasn’t going to stay silent on the matter. “I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally,” she wrote. “That all people are celebrated equally. A day where people of all gender identities are celebrated on whichever holiday speaks to them. Because people of all gender identities and races deserve peace and dignity.”
Gaga hoped the world would “come together [to be] loving, accepting, warm and welcoming,” but she refused to accept the rebranding of intolerance as acceptable behavior. “I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as ‘backlash,’” she wrote. “People deserve better.”
Throughout her career, Gaga has been a staunch and unwavering supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community. Gaga reportedly told Fab Magazine that having so many friends and supporters in the queer community has given her a “moral obligation to defend my fan base and make the world a better place.”
Mulvaney previously faced an internet firestorm after one of her TikToks was sponsored by Bud Light for 2023’s March Madness. Later that year, Mulvaney spoke about the reaction and claimed she felt abandoned by Anheuser Busch.
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“I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me but they never did,” she said in a June 2023 Instagram video, adding that the “bullying and transphobia” and threats she received over the TikTok made her “scared to leave my house.” She claimed that silence from Anheuser-Busch “gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.”
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all,” she argued. (CEO Brendan Whitworth issued a statement at the time addressing the negative reaction to the ad, saying the brand “never intended to be a part of a discussion that divides people.”)
