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Melissa McCarthy defended drag queens on Monday when she took to Instagram and shared a supportive message.
The Bridesmaids star, 52 – who will soon be seen as Ursula in The Little Mermaid live-action remake – posted a collage of iconic drag characters surrounding a central statement.
‘You’ve been entertained by drag queens your whole life,’ read McCarthy’s message. ‘Don’t pretend it’s a problem now.’
The collage included legendary drag stars like Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, and Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies.
Melissa’s supportive post comes amid a wave of anti-drag legislation sweeping the U.S., with Tennessee passing a bill last week that restricts ‘adult cabaret performance’ in public or in the presence of children.
Collage for a cause: The Bridesmaids star posted a collage of iconic drag characters surrounding a central statement. ‘You’ve been entertained by drag queens your whole life,’ read McCarthy’s message. ‘Don’t pretend it’s a problem now’
Showing her support: Melissa McCarthy, 52, defended drag queens on Monday when she took to Instagram and shared a supportive message
Across the country, conservative activists and politicians complain that drag contributes to the ‘sexualization’ or ‘grooming’ of children. Several states are considering restrictions, but none has acted as fast as Tennessee.
Thousands of reactions poured into McCarthy’s comments section, with many drag queens thanking the star for her support.
BenDeLaCreme wrote, ‘THANK YOU. It’s been disheartening to see how few allies are bringing attention to what is happening.’
The RuPaul’s Drag Race star added, ‘These drag bans are only the tip of the iceberg. A way to slowly desensitize the American public to increasingly anti-queer rhetoric.
‘I hope to continue to see celebrities and public figures speak up as more and more LGBTQ+ lives are endangered.’
Another star from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pandora Boxx, seconded BenDeLaCreme’s message by writing: ‘Thank you! Drag queens are not the problem.’
Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2014, McCarthy talked about the ‘confidence’ she received from the drag community when she was a young stand-up comedian pretending to be a drag queen in New York City.
Describing her own over-the-top drag person, Miss Y, the A-lister said, ‘It was me there with my lovely gay guy friends and I was dressed like a big old drag queen.
‘I went by Miss Y. I had a gold lamé swing coat on, a huge wig, big eyelashes. I talked about being incredibly wealthy and beautiful and living extravagantly, and the first night worked great. It was such a happy, good feeling, and it gave me such confidence.’
A drag queen reads a book to children at the publicly funded San Lorenzo library
Thousands of reactions poured into McCarthy’s comments section, with many drag queens thanking the star for her support. RuPaul’s Drag Race star BenDeLaCreme penned a powerful statement
Another star from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Pandora Boxx, seconded BenDeLaCreme’s message
Confident queen: Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2017, McCarthy talked about the ‘confidence’ she received from the drag community when she was a young stand-up comedian in New York City (pictured at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards)
McCarthy’s best friend, shoe designer Brian Atwood, reminisced to Rolling Stone about how Melissa would dress up as Miss Y and attend the seminal drag festival Wigstock.
‘It was the time of Lady Miss Kier, RuPaul and Lady Bunny, and Miss Y was Missy’s great alter ego,’ Atwood told Rolling Stone. ‘When we went to Wigstock at Tompkins Square Park, Miss Y was at her prime there. Full-on. That was her time. It was hilarious.’
Melissa also spoke about her affinity for the superhuman confidence that drag queens exude and how they ‘just do not care.’
‘I really like to watch the bolder ones who are overly confident without anything to back it up,’ she said. ‘It’s somebody that’s somehow not bought into all the we-should and we-shouldn’t. They don’t give a s**t. I have a real obsession with people who just do not care.’
Some Republicans and conservative activists have in recent months complained that drag contributes to the ‘sexualization’ or ‘grooming’ of children.
In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a piece of legislation that limits where drag performances can take place by banning ‘adult cabaret entertainment’ that is ‘harmful to minors’ from public property or locations where children might see the performance.
The bill does not explicitly include the words ‘drag show,’ but it does expand the definition of adult cabaret to include ‘male or female impersonators,’ as well as topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers and strippers.
The legislation then bans adult cabaret from taking place on public property or in a location where minors might be present.
‘We don’t want to have the door open that they can go see advertent nudity and sexual acts or the depiction of sexual acts,’ said Republican Sen. Becky Massey. ‘I´m sorry, that’s not what Tennessee is about.’
Meanwhile, the Arkansas House voted last month to ‘adult-oriented’ performances, revamping a measure that previously targeted drag shows following discrimination complaints from the LGBTQ community.
Meanwhile, the Arkansas House voted last month to ‘adult-oriented’ performances. The bill will ultimately do away with drag storytime performances, which sees drag queens reading to students for free at public libraries. The events have become part of the heated cultures in the US over gender discussions and kids
The bill approved by the majority-Republican House on a 78-15 vote no longer explicitly adds drag shows to the list of businesses considered ‘adult-oriented,’ easing some of the concerns of LGBTQ advocates and other opponents. The bill now heads back to the majority-Republican Senate, which approved an earlier version of the restriction.
‘This bill is not about whether drag is acceptable,’ Republican Rep. Mary Bentley, the bill’s sponsor, told House members before the vote. ‘It’s about whether we should be exposing our children to sexually explicit behavior.’
Arkansas is one of several states where Republican lawmakers have proposed restrictions on drag shows, which have been targeted by right-wing activists and politicians in recent months.
Protesters have appeared at events like drag story hours, in which colorfully clad drag queens read books to children. Opponents of such events have claimed they’re harmful to children.
Under the current version of Arkansas’ bill, the restricted performances would include performers who are nude or seminude, and purposely exposing a specific anatomical area, or prosthetic breasts or genitalia.
To meet the definition, the performance must feature real or simulated sexual activities and be intended to appeal to ‘prurient’ interests, a term that’s not defined in the legislation.
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