Anheuser-Busch sparked controversy and a widespread boycott with its decision to hire transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney to shill its Bud Light brand.
Weeks after that campaign thrust the company into the headlines, a new complaint is alleging that a corporate leadership program discriminates against would-be applicants based on race and other factors.
In announcing the action, America First Legal issued a statement noting that, as evidenced by its partnership with Mulvaney, “it is safe to assume that the company’s definition of a woman is not limited to biological females.”
When it comes to identifying people based on skin color, however, Anheuser-Busch appears eager to dole out benefits to certain races while withholding similar advantages from those in other groups.
Civil Rights complaint filed against Anheuser-Busch the owner of Bud Light for ‘racist and sexiest’ staff hiring practices.
America First Legal alleges that the beer company uses discriminatory hiring practices which ‘prioritises minorities’ and has filed a formal complaint… pic.twitter.com/j3quKWjmge
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 18, 2023
The complaint against the company specifically cites the Anheuser-Busch Leadership Accelerator Program, which reportedly solicited “candidates who identify as Black, Latinx, and Native American to apply, as well as those who identify with a historically underrepresented group.”
America First Legal pointed out that White and Asian individuals were conspicuously missing from the list.
“Under the cloak of ‘equity,’ woke companies like Anheuser-Busch proudly discriminate based on race, color, national origin, and sex in their employment practices,” the statement asserted.
Gene Hamilton, the legal group’s vice president and general counsel, elaborated on the perceived significance of Anheuser-Busch’s recent actions.
Aside from “promoting a radical transgender agenda that is at odds with the values of their customers,” he said that the company is “apparently engaged in something even more odious, and that’s hiring based on race and sex.”
As a result, Hamilton asserted that the brand has become just one in a growing list of once-respected companies that “have become shells of their founders’ visions due to weak-kneed corporate leadership who routinely cave to idealogues whose thirst for an ever-changing notion of ‘social justice’ is relentless.”
In its complaint, America First Legal suggests that, despite including “Equal Opportunity Employer language at the end of the posting,” Anheuser-Busch’s inclusion of specific races appears to be a violation of federal law.
News of the civil rights complaint comes after Anheuser-Busch shed billions of dollars in value following the backlash over its Mulvaney collaboration.
