Cosmetics Brand Cuts Ties With Alice Cooper Over His Trans Comments

Rock singer Alice Cooper has lost a brand partnership with a cosmetics company over his comments about transgender people, including describing it as a "fad."

The 75-year-old, whose given name is Vincent Damon Furnier, is best known for his signature black eye make-up, gender-bending stage costumes, and spooky props, including fake blood and guillotines.

He was set to team up with Vampyre Cosmetics for a makeup collection named after him, but the company dumped him over comments he made during an interview with the music website Stereogum. Newsweek contacted Cooper's representatives by email for comment.

"In light of recent statements by Alice Cooper we will no l​​​​​​onger be doing a makeup collaboration. We stand with all members of the LGBTQIA+ community and believe everyone should have access to healthcare. All pre-order sales will be refunded," Vampyre Cosmetics announced on its official Instagram page.

"I find it wrong when you've got a 6-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you're confusing him telling him, 'Yeah, you're a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be,'" Cooper said in the interview. "I mean, if you identify as a tree ... I'm going, 'Come on! What are we in, a Kurt Vonnegut novel?' It's so absurd, that it's gone now to the point of absurdity."

"A guy can walk into a woman's bathroom at any time and just say, 'I just feel like I'm a woman today' and have the time of his life in there," Cooper said. "He's just taking advantage of that situation ... Somebody's going to get raped."

"I'm understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I'm afraid that it's also a fad, and I'm afraid there's a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that," the singer said.

"There is no statistical evidence to support the idea that women or children are unsafe with trans-inclusive bathroom policies, nor is there any evidence to support that there are men dressing as women to gain access to bathrooms for nefarious purposes," Wynne Nowland, an insurance CEO wrote for Newsweek. "However, statistical and anecdotal evidence showing a rise in violence against transgender individuals in 2022 does exist."

Gender-affirming healthcare and support of transgender identities, even without medical intervention, is supported by major medical, nursing, and healthcare societies in the U.S.

It has also been shown to save lives as transgender people face poorer mental health outcomes than other people due to ongoing discrimination and violence.

Cooper's comments also come at a time where anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation has increased across the country so much so that the Human Rights Campaign declared an unprecedented "state of emergency" for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S.

More than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been entered by state legislators across the country and Congress in 2023, which is more than any other year on record. Of those already introduced, 220 target transgender people, including banning them from competing in sports and preventing minors from accessing gender-affirming health care.

"The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived—they are real, tangible, and dangerous," HRC President Kelley Robinson said. "In many cases, they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states, and triggering a tidal wave of increased homophobia and transphobia that puts the safety of each and every one of us at risk.

"Our No.1 priority will always be ensuring that LGBTQ+ people are safe and have the tools they need to defend and protect themselves against acts of hostility, discrimination and—in the most extreme cases—violence."