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It began as an attempt by our team in Europe to turn a negative into a positive with in-kind response to a social comment in 2021 asserting that a color of the then-new Ranger Raptor truck was 'very gay' – something which offended colleagues and customers. That’s just a brief list but, if you’re planning to boycott automakers for supporting the LGBTQ+ community, you might want to start walking.

Paging Ford’s truck division.

One commenter from Germany, however, described the choice of blue color as "very gay."

There is an argument to be made that when faced with such an immature, regressive comment, you should simply ignore it, so as to deny that individual of the attention they are trying to get. The company reportedly created the car in response to a social media post that referred to the "Performance Blue" color option on Ranger Raptors as "very gay." We found no evidence that the truck has ever been available for purchase by consumers.

In May 2023, claims began to spread online that Ford had debuted a new truck called the "Very Gay Raptor," a vehicle painted in gold dust and rainbow graphics.

There is no evidence the truck had ever been available to purchase.

When we contacted Ford, Ford spokesman T.R. Reid said:

The video that circulated on social media a couple of weeks ago was never part of a Ford "ad campaign" anywhere. Response to the ad was largely positive, and the majority of commenters appeared to be impressed with the new Raptor.

It looks like the Ford executives who could have stopped their brand from becoming the “Bud Light of Trucks” had already done the deed a year ago, when they ran the “Very Gay Raptor” — yes, that is its real name — at a major motorsports event.
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You may have indeed wondered whether this video, that’s been going viral thanks to former transgender personality Oli London, was real:
The answer is yes.
The ad shared by London features Rob Kearney, the first openly gay competitor in the World’s Strongest Man competition, talking up the allyship he found in the event.
Others also recently posted promotional videos of the “Very Gay Raptor,” a rainbow flag-bedecked version of the $56,000-plus twin-turbo performance truck:
The only thing that’s wrong about these statements is that the “Very Gay Raptor” isn’t something new.

The marketing team at Ford adopted a slightly different approach, and instead took the comment as a challenge: What would a "very gay" version of their truck look like?
"Our latest Raptor reveal has had a lot of attention," Ford stated on social media. This appears to be how Ford’s Very Gay Raptor entered the fold, despite being nearly two years old and introduced in Europe.
More: Ford Is Bringing A New, “Very Gay” Raptor To Goodwood
Last year’s video promoting the redesigned truck, which was created to reaffirm “Ford’s long-term commitment to LGBTQ+ allyship,” has started trending again and the comments are decidedly harsh.

At the time of publication, the post had over 14 million views.
Another prominent claim about the truck was posted to TikTok on May 19, 2023. This has caused Bud Light sales to plummet by nearly 25% and some stores are effectively giving the beer away for free after rebate.
Anheuser-Busch hit a nerve and consumers responded, and now it appears certain individuals are looking for other companies to target as part of the Get Woke, Go Broke movement.

"Breaking news, as Ford has revealed their new 2023 Raptor, which comes in a rainbow-colored theme," the TikTok post claimed. Ranger Raptors are a brand of trucks sold by the company.
We found several different viral posts about the claim on social media platforms, particularly on Twitter and TikTok.
"Ford: How to destroy 120 years of American car history in one minute," a Twitter user postedon May 18, 2023.

"But one comment stopped us in our tracks."
Enter the #VeryGayRaptor: a sparkly gold Ranger decked out in the colors of the rainbow flag. At the time of publication, the post had 2.7 million views on the platform.
@44vatox Ford debuts their new 2023 "Very Gay Raptor" #mexicantiktok#fortheraza#lgbt#verygayraptor♬ Suspense Music - Gabriel Andrade Produções
We also found posts about the claim on Facebook and YouTube.
The "Very Gay Raptor" is real, but it's not new.
Philip Ellis
Philip Ellis is Sex & Relationships Editor at Men's Health, and author of the novels We Could Be Heroes and Love & Other Scams. Repeat, emergency call from Bud Light on line one.
Oh, whoops. Now, the Next-Gen Ranger Raptor is picking up the torch in Ford's mission to work side-by-side with the automotive industry and LGBTQ+ community to drive out discrimination.

"I'm so sick of woke companies." Attached to the tweet was a commercial claiming to show the "Very Gay Raptor" advertised by Ford. Among them is one person who claimed they “had an appointment with [a] Ford dealership to order fleet vehicles for my company, but after one of my guys showed me this video, I think I’m good.

In a 2022 press release about the truck, Ford said the video was meant to tease the appearance of the "Very Gay Raptor" as well as the Next-Gen Ranger Raptor at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, an annual U.K. motorsports event.