Dylan Mulvaney responds after Donald Trump jokes about her at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The actress and transgender advocate addressed the president's remarks in a four-minute video shared on social media yesterday
By Callum Wells
Dylan Mulvaney has responded after Donald Trump made her the punchline of a joke during his speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The actress and transgender advocate addressed the president’s remarks in a four-minute video shared on social media yesterday (26 July), two days after Trump repeatedly mentioned her while speaking at the rescheduled annual event in Washington, DC.
During his speech, the US president turned his attention to CNN‘s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who had been recognised earlier in the evening for her reporting.
What did Donald Trump say about Dylan Mulvaney at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?
“I thought Kaitlan had really made it big with a major new sponsorship,” he said. “But then I informed her that it wasn’t her on the Bud Light can, it was Dylan Mulvaney.”
The remark referred to Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light in 2023, which sparked a conservative boycott of the beer brand and thrust the actor into the centre of the US culture wars.
Responding to the comments, Mulvaney said she was “incredibly honored to be compared” to Collins before reflecting on the fact she continues to feature in Trump’s speeches years after the Bud Light campaign.
“I’ve been kind of flying under the radar, keeping up a pretty low profile, just like doing my little musicals, singing, dancing, and yet I am still his topic of conversation all these years later.”
Trump revisited the joke by sharing an AI-generated image on Truth Social showing Collins’ face superimposed onto Mulvaney’s body in a recreation of the Bud Light promotional video. The original image came from Mulvaney’s 2023 campaign, in which she wore an Audrey Hepburn-inspired outfit.
Mulvaney says she’s “the one that got away for these men”
Mulvaney also suggested she remained unusually prominent in the minds of her critics, referencing Katy Perry‘s song The One That Got Away.
“It seems to me that I might be like the one that got away for these men,” she said. “Like, I am permanently burned into their retinas. I am microchipped into their minds.”
She admitted her initial reaction to Trump’s comments was concern.
“When I first heard that the president put me on his diss track, I was like, well, ‘That’s not good’.”
But she said she quickly reached a different conclusion.
“Maybe I shouldn’t want to be professionally supported by an administration that doesn’t personally support me or so many others in this country.”
What are Trump’s transgender policies?
Since returning to office, Trump has signed a series of executive orders affecting transgender people, including measures relating to gender-affirming care, military service and participation in sport, making trans rights a recurring focus of his administration’s agenda.
Mulvaney said she now views the criticism as a sign that her visibility matters.
“Maybe being publicly mocked and criticised by this administration is actually like the greatest compliment of all. Because it puts me in the company of some of the most brilliant, empathetic people in our world today.”
She added: “Why is it so important to them that I don’t find success?” before saying she has a “freedom” that her critics “will never have the privilege to experience.”
“Thank you for reminding me that I am more powerful than I even knew” – Mulvaney
Arguing that representation can encourage young transgender people, she said: “They don’t want me sharing my freedom, because it would mean young people realizing that if someone like me can be themselves and find success and freedom, then they can find success and freedom for themselves too.”
Mulvaney ended the video by encouraging viewers to support trans and non-binary people before thanking the president directly.
“Thank you for reminding me that I am more powerful than I even knew.”