The partnership began in May, although the campaign caught the attention of many on Monday when the conservative account End Wokeness posted to X, "We officially have the Bud Light of 2024. UGG just partnered witg [sic] Alok Vaid-Menon for Pride Month 2024. Alok once said men should be allowed to use girIs restrooms because... 'little girIs are also kinky' and not innocent. #BoycottUGG. Make it trend."
UGG's website currently features a picture of Vaid-Menon on its home page overlaid with the words "YOU ARE WELCOME HERE" and a link to "Celebrate Pride 2024" which takes you to the page of the collection co-created by Vaid-Menon. The collection features neon-colored boots and dresses.
Vaid-Menon wrote in a 2016 Facebook status update, "These days, the narrative is that freaky transgender people (or as they say 'crossdressers' will come into your bathrooms and abuse innocent little girls... there are no fairy tales and no princesses here. Little girls are also queer, trans, kinky, deviant, kind, mean, beautiful, ugly, tremendous, and peculiar. Your kids aren't as straight and narrow as you think they are, Like everybody else, I've been a cute little girl."
After receiving backlash for the post, Vaid-Menon claimed on a blog post that the words did not originate from Vaid-Menon, but were rather "an analysis of a film" he hadn't seen that was "written by a former colleague who was born female."
Vaid-Menon is also known for being featured as the guest on Demi Lovato's 2021 podcast episode during which she declared herself a they/them. Vaid-Menon said during the program that Vaid-Menon was "so proud" of her for coming out as non-binary and told a story of when Lovato came to a poetry show and asked Vaid-Menon "Is being non-binary when you are healed?" afterward. Lovato has since changed her pronouns back to she/her and identifies as a woman.
