Six the Musical locks X account following backlash over Dylan Mulvaney casting
Dylan Mulvaney will star as Anne Boleyn in Six. (JC Olivera/Getty)
Trans actress and TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney has been cast in Broadway‘s Six the Musical. The 29-year-old will star as Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII.
However, the announcement sparked a significant backlash, largely from right-wing and gender-critical accounts on X.com, with many people calling the casting decision “woke”, and others saying that the role of Anne Boleyn should have gone to someone assigned female at birth.
Following the backlash, Six the musical’s X (Twitter) account was made private. The account is currently locked to non-followers.
The musical’s Instagram account is still public. However, comments have been turned off on the post announcing Mulvaney’s casting. This is not the case for the rest of the casting announcements.
Mulvaney has been the target of several online harassment campaigns, most notably the anti-trans backlash to her Bud Light collaboration. Now, people are going after her for appearing in a light-hearted Broadway comedy.
Posting about the casting, Mulvaney shared: “YAY BROADWAY! so happy my bway debut is playing a fellow polarizing woman in this perfect musical next month I hope you will all come watch me live my dream I am SO HAPPY I CANT STOP SMILING.”
Pushing back against the casting on X, one individual wrote: “Although [Six] has closed down their account due to backlash after casting Dylan Mulvaney in the Broadway musical Six as Anne Boleyn, you can continue to tell them that giving women’s roles to men is unfair!”
‘Its just hilarious that a woman playing another woman has y’all so upset.’
Notorious anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok also posted: “A man is playing a woman in a musical about celebrating women and “girl power”. Can’t make this up.”
However, there were many who came to Mulvaney’s defence.
In response to the above post, one wrote: ““They made Anne Boleyn trans” is so funny considering this is a show where Catherine of Aragon is Beyoncé and Katherine Howard is Ariana Grande like no part of this show has ever been about accurately recreating history, you’re just transphobic.”
Another also shared: “Transphobes are SO!!! Mad that Dylan Mulvaney is gonna be playing Anne Boleyn in SIX The Musical on Broadway and its just hilarious that a woman playing another woman has y’all so upset because it just proves y’all know NOTHING!!! About Anne Boleyn and who she really was.”
Mulvaney has previously appeared in The Book of Mormon, Legally Blonde, and Bye Bye Birdie. She also staged a one-woman show, The Least Problematic Woman in the World.
‘I think that’s a miracle.’
Following her casting announcement, Mulvaney posted a video on Instagram to share with her followers that rehearsals have begun.
She thanks her followers for the excitement and lovely messages she’s received since the casting news dropped. However, she also takes a moment to speak about the avalanche of hate that’s come her way.
“I’ve also got some not-so-lovely messages, questioning my abilities or just hating in general,” Mulvaney shared.
“My first instinct was to come on here and try to convince those people that I do have what it takes to be a Broadway performer and to tell you why.
“Then, I realised I shouldn’t waste my breath on that because this is a miracle… being a trans person in 2026 when this world is working against us in what feels like every way, for me to step out onto a Broadway stage as Anne Boleyn and perform an iconic historical character’s role in a show that is so rooted in celebrating femininity, I think that’s a miracle.
“If I had to go viral and find myself in a far-right media firestorm and spend many years and many tears wondering why that was happening and trying desperately to get back to what I once loved, which was theatre. I would do it all over again if it meant that I got to be on stage.”
Mulvaney will join Six on February 16 at the Lena Horne Theatre.
PinkNews has contacted representatives of Six the Musical for comment.
