Dylan Mulvaney breaks his week-long silence on the Bud Light backlash

(The hill) – Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney broke her weeks-long social media silence on Thursday following the right-wing backlash over her recent partnership with Bud Light.

“I’ve been offline for a few weeks and a lot has been said about me,” Mulvaney said in a video posted to Instagram and TikTok. “It was so loud I didn’t even feel like I was part of the conversation. So I decided to sit in the back seat and let her rest.”

“But then I remembered that almost 13 million people eventually liked me enough to click the follow button on those apps. And I was like, wait, wait, wait, I want to talk to these people,” she added.

Mulvaney was silent on social media for almost three weeks after a sponsored Instagram post promoting Bud Light’s March Madness contest last month drew the ire of conservative critics who called for protests against Bud Light and its parent company Anheuser-Busch .

The transgender influencer, who shared her transition journey with followers online, said Thursday she was “doing fine” following the backlash.

“What I struggle with the most is that I grew up in a conservative family and I’m extremely privileged because they still love me very much,” Mulvaney said. “And I grew up in the church, and I still have my faith, which I’m really trying to hold on to right now.”

“But I’ve always tried to love everyone, you know, even the people who make it really, really hard,” she continued. “And I think it’s okay to be frustrated or confused by someone. But what I struggle to understand is the need to dehumanize and be cruel.”

Mulvaney thanked those who “choose to see my humanity,” even if they “don’t fully understand or relate to” their experience.

“I’m just going to move on and have faith that the people who know me and my heart won’t listen to this noise,” she added. “What interests me is making people laugh again.”

While Mulvaney has previously been silent on social media, she told iHeartPodcasts ‘Onward With Rosie O’Donnell’ earlier this month that she is one “Easy Target” for conservatives.

“The reason I think I’m an easy target is because I’m new to it,” she said. “I think it’s a lot harder to prosecute a trans woman who’s been doing this for 20 years.”