Anheuser-Busch’s courtship of transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney is only the tip of a corporate iceberg that includes race-based discrimination, according to a federal civil rights complaint against the brewery giant.
“Under the cloak of ‘equity,’ woke companies like Anheuser-Busch proudly discriminate based on race, color, national origin, and sex in their employment practices,” America First Legal said in a statement on its website, announcing the complaint.
Anheuser-Busch has been under fire for its partnership with Mulvaney through its Bud Light brand, which has caused celebrities, taverns, and everyday beer drinkers to turn away from the company.
America First Legal, a group founded by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to former President Donald Trump, cited the Mulvaney episode in its statement, writing, “Notably, the company fails to define what it means by the term ‘women.'”
“As the corporation responsible for Bud Light, and as an eager and willing partner with and funder of ‘transgender activist’ and biological male Dylan Mulvaney, it is safe to assume that the company’s definition of a woman is not limited to biological females,” the group wrote in the statement.
In its letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the group called for an investigation.
“The evidence is that Anheuser-Busch is knowingly, intentionally, and unlawfully discriminating based on race, color, national origin, and sex with respect to employment and job training opportunities,” America First Legal wrote in its letter to the EEOC.
The complaint focuses on Anheuser-Busch’s Leadership Accelerator Program, which targets groups the company states have been historically underrepresented in the company’s leadership. The complaint cited the language of the program that says it welcomes “candidates who identify as Black, Latinx, and Native American to apply, as well as those who identify with a historically underrepresented group.”
The group’s statement noted that Asian-Americans, as well as white Americans, are not mentioned.
“This is not a regular corporate program,” the group said in its complaint.
“[I]t is a fast-track program to executive leadership positions at Anheuser-Busch and it is limited to candidates based on race. The proforma Equal Opportunity Employer language at the end of the posting does mask the company’s discriminatory intent and purpose,” the complaint states.
The complaint states that “there is ample reason to believe that Anheuser-Busch has knowingly and intentionally violated federal law and will continue to do so. The corporation has chosen to promote and use employment practices that are both patently illegal and deeply harmful.”
The statement said Anheuser-Busch “has decided to arrogantly disregard America’s laws and brazenly attack our civil society. It must be held accountable for its divisive, illegal, and immoral employment practices.
Gene Hamilton, America First Legal vice president and general counsel, said the company has lost its way, according to Newsweek.
“Anheuser-Busch is not only promoting a radical transgender agenda that is at odds with the values of their customers, but what’s worse is they are apparently engaged in something even more odious, and that’s hiring based on race and sex,” he said in a statement to Newsweek.
“Notably, it appears that Anheuser-Busch has programs that invite individuals of specified races, colors, and national origins to apply while excluding Whites and Asians from these opportunities … Any company engaged in the illegal practice of discriminatory hiring, racially or otherwise, must be held accountable for their egregious violations of the law,” he said.
In the statement, Hamilton noted that Anheuser-Busch is among “[i]conic American brands” 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.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.