Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender male, wrote in her journal about consuming Bud Light just over one month after the Anheuser-Busch InBev brewing company paid Dylan Mulvaney, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, to promote its product.
The Tennessee Star confirmed last week it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings, recovered from her vehicle by police, from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
In this journal, Hale wrote on March 14, 2023, “I really should not drink more than (1) bud Light… It put me in a funk since Sunday.”
Mulvaney posted his first advertisement for Bud Light to Instagram on February 11, 2023. Hale appeared to have consumed the Bud Light on either March 11, the date she wrote an entry titled “My Imaginary Penis,” or on March 12, when she did not write in the journal.
Either March 2023 date would indicate Hale consumed the unknown quantity of Bud Light at least one month after Mulvaney began advertising the brand.
The first video of Mulvaney featuring Bud Light depicts the transgender in a bathtub, holding a Bud Light with more cans of beer behind him. As the video progresses, the influencer dances and blows bubbles while holding a can of the beer.
In the post, Mulvaney wrote, “only [Bud Light] could have a commercial so catchy it makes you wanna dance in the tub!”
While Mulvaney apparently began advertising for Bud Light in February, the controversy surrounding Anheuser-Busch’s relationship with Mulvaney did not receive significant social media attention until April 1, 2023, when Mulvaney posted another video promoting the brand just days after Hale committed her devastating attack at the Covenant School on March 27.
Conservative musician Kid Rock encouraged public mockery of Bud Light on April 3, when the musician posted a video of him shooting boxes of the beer to the social media platform X.
Anheuser-Busch InBev reportedly lost more than $1 billion in sales due to public opposition to its partnership with Mulvaney.
Its sales reportedly dropped 4 percent globally but 15 percent in North America, with the New York Post reporting, “A huge share of Bud Light’s consumer base stopped buying the once-most popular brew in early April 2023,” when the partnership with Mulvaney received viral attention.
The Star previously reported Hale was prescribed at least five medications, including three anti-anxiety drugs, a sodium chloride nasal spray, and an antidepressant.
The antidepressant Hale was prescribed is Escitalopram, the generic name for the popular selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) Lexapro, which doctors strongly advise against combining with alcohol. According to Medical News Today, doctors say women taking Escitalopram or Lexapro should not consume more than one alcoholic beverage per day.
Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in the Tennessee lawsuit that seeks to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release Hale’s full writings. They are similarly defendants in the federal lawsuit to compel the full release of Hale’s writings from the FBI.
Last week, The Star published an FBI memo that “strongly” advised MNPD Chief John Drake against releasing “legacy tokens” from individuals like Hale. An FBI definition suggests both Hale’s writings obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuits would be considered “legacy tokens.”
The FBI did not confirm the authenticity of the memo to The Star, but confirmed it sends such “products” to local law enforcement partners.
Since obtaining Hale’s journal, The Star has published dozens of articles featuring her writings.
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dylan Mulvaney” by Los Angeles magazine Videos.
someone please please send this article to InBev, yall know them – the foreign company that owns Bud ( no longer USA owned of course )
Cause this is PR Marketeering 101 that money can not buy – wow