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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right neo-fascist group, protested before a drag performance at a church in Portage, Michigan, at the weekend, dressed as Bud Light beer bottles amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the brand's partnership with trans activist and social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Southwest Michigan in Portage was expected to hold a drag show and workshop for people of all ages on Saturday, and the event was met by two rival groups of protesters.
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Drag shows have been pulled into a culture war in the U.S., with conservatives calling them inappropriate and even saying they "groom" children. Drag Story Hour, events for children hosted by drag performers reading books, has particularly come under attack.
About 10 members of the Proud Boys—whose notoriety stems from their role in the Jan. 6 riots—showed up, but they were faced by a much larger group of LGBT activists supporting the church's show and the two opposing groups eventually clashed, leading to the police being called at about 4:30 p.m, as reported by WWMT.
"Proud Boys really threatened to bring masses of people to intimidate the crowd.... But they literally showed up in Bud Light costumes and left an hour before the drag show even started," wrote one of the LGBT advocates outside the church on Saturday. "Also there was <10 of them and over 50 of us. Embarrassing.
"Can you imagine looking like this and being grumpy over a makeup workshop. I hope they know they kept us entertained and laughing."
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In April, Bud Light sent Mulvaney a commemorative can featuring her image which celebrated the first anniversary of her gender transition, as part of a paid sponsorship and promotion deal.
Mulvaney showed the cans in a video, which generated outrage among conservatives, who accused the beer brand of having betrayed its core customers and their values by going "woke." A widespread boycott of the brand has followed across the U.S.
The backlash against Bud Light and its parent company, Anheuser-Busch, has been linked to a significant drop in sales in the past month, and it can be seen as part of the ongoing anti-trans push being driven by conservative Republicans across the country.
There have been a number of viral videos and photos shared online of people reportedly avoiding cases of Bud Light in favor of other brands, while immediately after the initial incident, Kid Rock showed what he thought by shooting cases of Bud Light with a machine gun.
Anheuser-Busch has also received backing from some in the LGBTQ+ community, with one Broadway actor stating that Bud Light is now "gay."
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