Reactionary Trolls Are Angry With Harry's for the Worst Reason

Earlier this year, a number of vocal conservatives online opted to turn their ire on Bud Light, who had — in their minds — committed a huge faux pas by sending transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a bottle of beer with her photograph on it. Bud Light taking the revolutionary step of, um, trying to get more people to buy their beer was evidently a bridge too far for some, and resulted in the eyeroll-inducing sight of Kid Rock exploding a bunch of beer bottles.

Now, the trolling has returned, and this time it’s directed at a razor company — Harry’s, to be more specific. As SK Pop reports, a number of right-wing Twitter personalities have objected to Harry’s partnering with Luke Wesley Pearson — whose Instagram bio describes him as a “Man of trans experience” — and donating money to the organization the Trevor Project.

(It’s worth pointing out here that, if the photos on his Instagram are any indication, Pearson has at times had a meticulously maintained and very stylish beard. In other words, it’s not hard to see why a company dedicated to shaving would seek to partner with him.)

SK Pop cites a tweet from Matt Walsh — the Daily Wire columnist, not the actor from Veep — in which he declares, “We’ve taken down Bud Light. Now it’s Harry’s turn.” It’s worth pointing out that this is not the first time someone associated with the Daily Wire has taken issue with Harry’s. The media company, co-founded by Ben Shapiro, went so far as to start its own rival razor company after Harry’s stopped sponsoring the show of another Daily Wire contributor in 2021.

Evidently, this is the world we live in now, where something relatively innocuous — a company trying to get more people to buy its products and donating some money to a nonprofit — is treated by some corners of the internet as being borderline-apocalyptic. Ask Bud Light, Target or Michter’s; the controversies are frustrating, but all too real.

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Of course, anyone inspired to change their shaving gear as a result of this proposed boycott might have a harder time of it than, say, simply not drinking Bud Light. Like it or not, the whole economic model of razors involves buying new blades — it’s not as simple as not buying a six-pack of Bud Light the next time you’re thinking of buying beer.

I also have some bad news for any would-be boycotters who are thinking, “Well, I’ll just start buying Gillette razors to shave with instead!” Gillette parent company Proctor & Gamble has also partnered with The Trevor Project — an organization who, as per its website, has a mission “to end suicide among LGBTQ young people.” Take a deep breath here and think: do you really want to be on the opposite side of that?