CNN under fire for misgendering Dylan Mulvaney: 'Unbelievably bad'
CNN is under fire for misgendering Dylan Mulvaney as “he” and “him” in a segment about the “culture war” being waged over the transgender influencer’s partnership with Bud Light.
Correspondent Ryan Young failed to use the 26-year-old influencer’s preferred pronouns in a short segment about the backlash against the beer giant that has led to plummeting sales.
Young also mispronounced Mulvaney’s first name as “Dylvan” while describing the social media star to “CNN News Central” viewers Tuesday.
“He, of course, is the transgender person they were going to sponsor and go along with, with Bud Light,” Young said, using “he” instead of Mulvaney’s preferred “she.”
“But [trans activists] didn’t like how Bud Light didn’t stand by him after all this,” Young said, again failing to use the influencer’s preferred “they.”
Neither Young nor host Kate Bolduan, whom he was talking to at the time, corrected the misgendering — finding themselves part of the very “Bud Light backlash” they were reporting on.
Media Matters critic Ari Drennen shared footage of the less-than-2-minute clip, ripping it as an “unbelievably bad CNN segment.”
“God damn, that sucked,” agreed the media watchdog’s research director, Craig Harrington.
“Wow, absolute garbage segment,” a Media Matters follower wrote, while another called it “despicably poor ‘journalism.'”
“What horrible coverage and the pundit couldn’t even correct the misgendering of Dylan. This makes me sad,” another said.
Neither Young, Bolduan nor “CNN News Central” addressed the backlash, and CNN did not immediately return a request for comment early Wednesday.
Mulvaney — who left the US to travel in Peru over safety fears sparked by the Bud backlash — also does not appear to have commented on it.