Ulta Experiences Transphobia Backlash After Dylan Mulvaney Interview

Cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty recently interviewed trans TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney on their “The Beauty Of …” series. While the conversation was insightful and positive overall, Ulta is now getting dogpiled by transphobes, with hashtag #BoycottUlta trending on Twitter over the weekend.

“The Beauty Of …” is a biweekly interview series hosted by celebrity hairstylist and “genderfluid hottie” David Lopez, and it discusses the meaning of beauty from a variety of perspectives. The second episode featured Mulvaney, a TikTok beauty influencer with over 8 million followers.

Trans 👏 Girls 👏 Can 👏 Do 👏It 👏 All! Tune into the latest episode of The Beauty Of… where host @DavidLopezzz sits down with guest Dylan Mulvaney to chat all things girlhood 💝 Watch now: https://t.co/tCRfEryYkZ pic.twitter.com/uaXJqEBQI9

— Ulta Beauty (@ultabeauty) October 13, 2022

Mulvaney spoke about how the often-tragic depiction of trans people in the media made her feel that her life would be full of hardship and cruelty. Social media apps like TikTok provide outlets where trans people can find alternative representation. Mulvaney previously told INTO, “I felt like an alien growing up and if I had some version of my older self on TikTok or on Instagram, I would like to think I would have figured a lot out about myself earlier than I did.”

In contrast to how she once imagined her life post-coming out, she told Lopez, “Now I know I can find love, I know I can still be a performer, I know that I can have a family — I want to be a mom one day — and I absolutely can. And that’s why the narrative still has a long way to go, because when I was grieving boy Dylan, I didn’t know those things were even accessible to me.”

Mulvaney seeks to provide that same affirmational representation to other trans people by chronicling her own journey through her “Days of Girlhood” series. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of trolls willing to dedicate their time on this burning planet to combating the love and acceptance of trans people.

Shortly after the episode hit YouTube, Ulta had to disable comments. On Sunday, Ulta took to Twitter to issue a response to the transphobes calling for a boycott, standing behind the episode.

dialogue is one important way to move beauty forward. The intersectionality of gender identity is nuanced, something David and Dylan acknowledge themselves within the episode. Regardless of how someone identifies, they deserve our respect. (2/2)

— Ulta Beauty (@ultabeauty) October 16, 2022

“The premise of ‘The Beauty Of …’ is to feature conversations that widen the lens surrounding traditional beauty standards,” Ulta wrote. “We believe beauty is for everyone. And while we recognize some conversations we host will challenge perspectives and opinions, we believe constructive dialogue is one important way to move beauty forward.

“The intersectionality of gender identity is nuanced, something David and Dylan acknowledge themselves within the episode. Regardless of how someone identifies, they deserve our respect.”