Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and interim police Superintendent Eric Carter announced an internal investigation Friday into the unauthorized “like” by the Chicago Police Department’s Twitter account of an anti-transgender tweet.
The CPD’s Twitter liked a post made Wednesday by country music singer Travis Tritt encouraging a boycott of Anheuser-Busch products after the company’s Bud Light brand collaborated on an ad with social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender woman.
Mulvaney, who has documented her yearlong transition to womanhood for her millions of social media followers, posted an Instagram video making jokes about the “March Madness” college basketball tournament.
In the Bud Light-sponsored video, she sips beer and shows off a customized blue can emblazoned with her face while encouraging viewers to drink the company’s beer and participate in a Bud Light contest.
The brief ad quickly sparked outrage from some conservative commentators. Performer Kid Rock posted a Twitter video opposing the collaboration Monday.
[ City aldermen frustrated, confused after police hearing on hate group links ]
“Grandpa’s feeling a little frisky today. Let me say something to all you and be as clear and concise as possible,” he said in the video.
Then Kid Rock turned, lifted an automatic assault rifle and gunned down three cases of Bud Light beer.
Tritt’s post followed days later.
“I will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same,” he wrote.
The Chicago Police Department’s account then “liked” the tweet. The signal of support for the opposition of companies working with transgender people went unnoticed until Chicago-based actor Jeff Wittekiend shared a screenshot of the “like” on his own Twitter Wednesday.
Wittekiend’s brother had noticed the “like” first. He — like 176.4k other people — follows the police account, and Tritt’s post showed up on his account with a message showing the department had “liked” it.
After Wittekiend’s post flagging the “like” circulated and was picked up by other media outlets, Carter acknowledged the “like” and said the department had launched an internal investigation in how it happened.
“CPD is made up of a diverse group of Chicagoans who are committed to serving our city. We will continue working to support and advocate for every community, including our LGBTQ+ community, so that everyone feels safe and welcome,” he wrote Friday.
Lightfoot also highlighted the “like” Friday, writing that the city “does not and will not tolerate any form of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric or behavior, ever.”
“I have directed Acting Superintendent Carter to conduct a robust investigation to identify the person responsible and hold them accountable,” she said. “There is no place for discrimination and that is why we work everyday to live our values and make sure everyone is respected.
The investigation comes a month after a City Council hearing on the ties of several Chicago police officers to far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers left some aldermen frustrated with the state of police investigations into the ties and a perceived lack of discipline.
When Wittekiend saw the Tritt post like, it was clear to him that it had been made inadvertently by someone who manages the department’s account, he said. He had already been aware of the “dust up” in conservative circles over Mulvaney’s Bud Light sponsorship.
“But just because something is inadvertent doesn’t mean that it’s not harmful,” he told the Tribune.
Tritt’s post sent a clear partisan message and was made in an effort to show that he doesn’t support any kind of partnership between companies and transgender people, he said.
“That’s all par-for-the-course cultural war stuff,” Wittekiend said. “But the fact that an official government account would like a tweet like that is extremely inappropriate.”
Afternoon Briefing
Daily
Chicago Tribune editors’ top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon.
Wittekiend said he doesn’t think the post is, “in the grand scheme of things,” the biggest threat facing transgender people today. But it comes at a time when the transgender community is being attacked with rising violence and new laws targeting their ability to exist as they’d like to and move throughout the country, he said.
Hate crime attacks motivated by “gender identity” are up in Chicago in recent years, police data show. The killings of transgender women of color often go unresolved in the city, the Tribune reported in June.
In a contentious moment, the post gives the impression that the police department — at least someone who speaks for them publicly — is aligned with opposition to transgender people, Wittekiend said.
Wittekiend said he appreciates the mayor’s and superintendent’s statements, and he is not calling for a “mass firing” to be taken because of the tweet. But it does have an impact, he said.
One thing that makes policing difficult is a lack of trust from the community, he pointed out.
“And things like that only make that harder, only make people more mistrustful of CPD,” he said.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
