During her appearance on Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky, Dylan Mulvaney ended up giving the host an unexpected crash course in LGBTQ slang—including a very thorough explanation of what a “twink” is.
Mulvaney, 26, has more than 10.6 million followers on TikTok, where she documented parts of her transition in the viral Days of Girlhood series.
The question arose when Mulvaney explained how her COVID-era nonbinary journey began:
“I started growing my hair out. I think what nonbinary did for me was it gave me an opportunity to be feminine and release from this kind of toxic idea of gay culture and being attractive to gay men, because that is still a problem that…is quite rampant in the community.”
The shift from twink identity to trans womanhood may be familiar in queer spaces, but for Monica Lewinsky, it was entirely new territory.
Lewinsky hilariously revealed how much of an offline queen she is:
“I’m a loser… Miley Cyrus had to tell me what WAP is.”
If your first guess was something like “Warm Apple Pie,” you’re probably keeping the same internet hours as Monica Lewinsky.
But luckily, Mulvaney stepped in with the perfect definition:
“A twink is like a smallish, feminine gay man, often quite hairless, but unfortunately, I was just so hairy, and I was getting laser hair removal.”
Lewinsky may not have started her day expecting a guided tour through the gay lexicon, but that is exactly where the conversation landed. When Lewinsky asked whether Mulvaney was trying to be a twink at the time, Mulvaney offered a little more nuance.
Mulvaney delivered the hard truth about gay archetypes:
“The thing is, a lot of people don’t want to be twinks, but you are. I was. I was a hairy twink, which is known as an otter sometimes.”
Somehow, Lewinsky already knew what cubs and bears were—not to be confused with furries—but otters and twinks were new additions to her vocabulary.
Mulvaney reflected on masculinity pressures in gay culture:
“Twinks sometimes get the worst of it because I think in gay culture, so many men still really pride themselves on being overly masculine and almost…proving their sort of dominance."
"But also like the way that they can conform to…what society’s idea is of, like, an ideal straight man. They’re also trying to do that for each other and for the world.”
Pre-transition, Mulvaney described herself as “this small, gawky gay kid that still did not feel desired in any way.” Transitioning ultimately helped Mulvaney access a new relationship with desire and confidence.
Mulvaney joked about leaving her “twink era” behind:
“I basically hung up my twink card. And justice for twinks! I will just say that there are many twinks in this world who are not trans women…But it felt so good to kind of hang my twink shoes up.”
Mulvaney is used to making history at this point, but even she seemed amused by the moment when she quipped, “I can’t believe that I get to be the one to tell Monica Lewinsky what a twink is.”
You can watch the viral moment here:
The exchange arrives as Mulvaney continues to make waves onstage as well. In January 2026, it was announced that Mulvaney would join the Broadway cast of Six as Anne Boleyn, the hit musical that reimagines the six wives of King Henry VIII as a pop girl group.
The producers of Six strongly defended the casting, condemning backlash as “bullying” and a “coordinated flood of bigoted comments.” While some critics focused on Mulvaney’s transgender identity, others pointed to her musical theater background and the show’s intentionally modern, subversive take on history.
The moment quickly made its way to social media, where viewers shared their reactions:
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@eviekay316/TikTok
@chadhayes02/TikTok
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Mulvaney also discussed the 2023 Bud Light controversy—often dubbed “Beergate”—during the podcast appearance. The influencer partnered with the brand after what she described as “a really big bidding war between two big companies.”
The company sent cans featuring Mulvaney’s face to celebrate her “365 Days of Girlhood,” triggering backlash and calls for a boycott from conservative commentators and country music figures. At one point, Lewinsky referenced a viral protest from singer Kid Rock, who filmed himself shooting cases of Bud Light with a rifle while declaring, “F--- Bud Light and f--- Anheuser-Busch!”
Mulvaney described how the controversy spiraled:
“What ended up happening was the far-right media and the powers that be that decided to make that America's biggest problem of the moment, which was, ‘Why is a trans person on a can of beer?’”
The influencer also spoke with President Joe Biden at the White House about transgender rights, visibility that also drew criticism from figures including Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and Caitlyn Jenner, the Republican transgender woman and former Olympian.
Mulvaney compared the experience to a famous Broadway outsider:
“I think of the villainization of ... I think about the animals in 'Wicked' because it's like they needed a common enemy, and so they're, like, 'OK, great. Trans people.' And then, with me, [it] felt very Elphaba, of here's somebody that had the best of intentions, and then, but they needed that poster child.”
Mulvaney opened up about having to feel smaller even when she’s on Broadway:
Even so, Mulvaney has continued to lean into the spotlight, balancing viral internet moments with broader conversations about identity, visibility, and the often strange ways queer culture enters the mainstream—from explaining LGBTQ slang to Monica Lewinsky to stepping onto the Broadway stage.
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