CLAIM: A video shows Bud Light drinkers using a “steamroller” to destroy beer cans in response to the brand partnering with Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The video is from February 2023, prior to the controversy, and shows a road roller in Mexicali, Mexico, being used to destroy thousands of beer cases that had been confiscated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The municipality announced that the cases of beer were destroyed due to health risks. Excavator Track Shoes Quotes
THE FACTS: Mulvaney partnered with Bud Light for a video earlier this month, which was met with transphobic commentary from conservative social media personalities, who attacked the company for supposedly turning to “woke” advertising and threatened to boycott the brand.
Amid the backlash, some online posts misrepresented a video that was filmed weeks ago in the border city Mexicali , claiming it showed cans being destroyed in response to the brand’s partnership.
“Bud Light drinkers use steamroller to destroy beer in protest against partnership with trans influencer,” one blog featuring the video falsely stated.
The false claim also circulated widely on Tiktok and Reddit.
The footage matches multiple similar videos that were posted on Feb. 28, 2023. That day, the Mexicali municipal government’s Twitter account posted photos of the same event, explaining that it showed the destruction of more than 85,000 beer containers that had been seized in 2020 by the City Council of Mexicali.
According to local reports, the cans were confiscated during the pandemic as people tried to bring cases of beer across the U.S.-Mexico border. In April 2020, the AP reported that Mexico had ordered the closure of most “non-essential” industries, which included the country’s major breweries.
Norma Bustamante, municipal president of Mexicali, tweeted on Feb. 27 that the authorization to destroy the cases of beer was approved “in order to avoid infections or other health risks.”
Excavator Shoe This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.