In mid-May, congressional hopeful Rick Becker commissioned a personalized Cameo from influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a video that stealthily took aim at their candidate Julie Fedorchak, their political rival in the Republican race for North Dakota’s seat in U.S. Congress.
He asked Mulvaney to congratulate Fedorchak on her new job “working with rhinos” at a zoo in D.C., a sneaky reference to the political term R.I.N.O. — “Republicans in Name Only.”
On May 21, Becker took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the video that he made at Mulvaney’s expense, misgendering her and saying it was “well worth” the $50 Cameo fee “for the laugh.”
The media at large had a field day with the story, and as Mulvaney’s name cropped up in headline after headline, she decided to wield the attention and turn heads towards a good cause.
In a TikTok video posted on May 30, Mulvaney began her video by acknowledging the Cameo she made for Becker.
“I had absolutely no idea the intent behind it, so I made the video, and it turns out it was a conservative politician using the video to bully his opponent,” Mulvaney explained.
“I wish I could say that this was the first time that this has happened, but I am — in fact — the most gullible person in the world,” Mulvaney continued with a self-deprecating smile.
“So I would like to use their hate and ignorance to do something of better use, by using my Cameo to raise money for Save The Children, which is an organization that currently has operations set up in Gaza to help provide emergency services to innocent lives.”
Mulvaney promised that “100%” of her Cameo profits made over the next month would be donated to Save The Children, a humanitarian relief organization that currently has boots on the ground in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and other “hard-to-reach places, where it’s toughest to be a child.”
Mulvaney wrapped her video by calling for a permanent ceasefire, and admitted that she “should have said this sooner.”
Mulvaney joins a long list of other influencers, artists, and content creators who have called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestine conflict and highlighted grassroots fundraisers like Operation Olive Branch, which help raise funds for refugees fleeing Palestine.
In early May, beloved children’s entertainer and educator Ms. Rachel (Rachel Accurso) raised $50,000 for Save The Children when she used Cameo as a fundraising tool — and sold out of Cameo requests in mere hours.
This is also not the first time that Mulvaney has “uno reversed” negative attention and spun it into support for a good cause.
In March, Mulvaney released her first single “Days of Girlhood,” and pledged to donate all streaming profits raised from March through the end of June to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention and LGBTQ+ youth advocacy group.
The video went viral online — for better or worse.
Transgender fans connected with Mulvaney’s song, making loving homages to their moms, sisters, and friends set to the song’s lyrics shouting out the “girls who helped show [them] the way.”
But it also gained attention from critics who picked apart Mulvaney’s hyper-feminine lyrics and bubble gum pink music video aesthetic, and from trolls who were flagrantly transphobic in their response videos.
Mulvaney hopped on TikTok to address the backlash to the song, noting that it was “going viral for most of the wrong reasons,” but she was grateful for the streams.
“Whether you love or hate the song, all of my profits from this music will be donated to the Trevor Project, now through Pride Month, which is an incredible organization that provides crisis services to queer youth,” Mulvaney explained.
“So even when the transphobes stream the song, that money goes to queer kids,” she said proudly. “That’s a win.”
Header images courtesy of Dylan Mulvaney/TikTok
