The first transgender woman to take home the Miss Netherlands crown called the backlash and boycotts that ensued from Dylan Mulvaney’s catastrophic partnership with Bud Light “horrible.”
“I think it’s really to make the girl that low in confidence… and judging her for being herself. I think it’s horrible,” the 22-year-old beauty pageant winner, Rikkie Valerie Kollé, told Newsweek.
“They see us as monsters,” added Kollé, who began her transition from male to female at 16 years old.
“My daily DMs [direct messages] are full of people wishing me dead. Wishing me dead and telling me to suicide.”
Kollé added that she was “sad” by what ensued after Mulvaney — who transitioned from male to female in March 2021 — shared a series of Instagram posts on April 1 featuring herself taking a bubble bath with a Bud Light in hand, and another sharing the custom can the beer brand sent her with her face on it to celebrate “365 Days of Girlhood.”
However, Kollé’s not letting the hate get to her, as she prepares for another potential historic win at the Miss Universe pageant on Jan. 14, 2024.
“The only thing I want to say to the haters is ‘thank you,’ because you’re giving me a bigger platform than I can ever imagine,” she told Newsweek.
Mulvaney, meanwhile, sought a change of scenery in Peru “to feel safe” again as she approaches the fourth month of ongoing blowback from her disastrous marketing campaign with the Bud Light — which has knocked the beer out of its No. 1 popularity spot and swiped $27 billion from its market cap.
The 26-year-old said she booked the trip to South Africa in a desperate bid to “feel something.”
“It’s a little sad that I had to leave my country to feel safe but that will get better eventually,” she added.
The type of culture war that ensued from the beleaguered beer’s scandal has made for a charged atmosphere when it comes to inclusive advertising, with many believing that brands that “go woke, go broke.”
Just this week, the world’s largest cosmetics brand, Maybelline, came under fire for tapping mustachioed, bearded, and bald influencer Ryan Vita to star in an Amazon Prime Day advert.
In the ad, Vita sports a full face of makeup and a beaded barette in his beard while applying bright pink shades of Maybelline’s “Super Stay” liquid lipstick.
Earlier this month, Nadya Okamoto, the CEO of “woke” tampon company August was dragged on social media after she called her customers “menstruators” instead of women as she claimed her brand is “gender inclusive” during an interview with CBS Mornings.
Pro-LGBTQ+ moves companies made in honor of Pride Month in June also outraged conservatives.
At cheap-retailer Target, “tuck-friendly” women’s swimsuits and Pride-themed clothing for children and infants particularly irked consumers, leading to a $15 billion loss in market value that caused the chain to pull some of its Pride merchandise or move displays further back in stores.
However, the LGBTQ community was outraged when Target dialed back its Pride Month efforts.
Over at Adidas, a $70 “Pride Swimsuit” was listed under the “women’s” section of its website though it was being shown off by an apparently male model who also was also displaying a noticeable bulge in the crotch area.
An accompanying video on Adidas’ site shows the model sashaying in the one-piece, with the camera at one point zooming to reveal a patch of chest hair rising above the neckline.
The casting triggered a flurry of criticism on social media. “I have breasts, hips, and no need for an extra pouch of fabric around my labia. I guess that means this bathing suit isn’t for me.. or most women,” one user tweeted.
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