(Photo via Drag Fans)
After being labeled by conservative critics in a Pensacola city meeting as being too suggestive and offensive, “A Drag Queen Christmas” has caught the attention of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who aims to get the Pensacola performance canceled.
In a letter sent Nov. 7 to the Pensacola City Council, Uthmeier conveyed his opinions and concerns about the “obscene” and “anti-religious” performance.
“While the First Amendment safeguards freedom of expression, it does not require a city to platform and endorse disgusting, obscene content that denigrates its residents’ religious beliefs,” Uthmeier stated in his letter which he also shared to X.
The Saenger Theatre in Pensacola is state ran and sponsored, which is why local critics and Uthmeier are trying to get the show at this specific theater canceled. In his letter he states that the city has a contractual right to cancel the show.
“So while Pensacola children are taking pictures with Santa, men dressed as garish women in demonic costumes will be engaged in obscene behavior mere feet away,” Uthmeier said.
Pensacola’s City Council on Nov. 10 rejected Uthmeier’s demand that the city cancel the show with members describing his letter as “personal opinion,” questioning its legal analysis and declining to take any action in response.
Several council members made clear the attorney general’s intervention did not change their view of the city’s legal posture. Councilmember Charles Bare — the lone member who did not even want to discuss the letter — delivered the sharpest critique.
“With all due respect to the Attorney General’s office,” he said, “this was an unsolicited opinion … As far as I’m concerned, this is his personal opinion written on government letterhead wasting taxpayer dollars.”
Uthmeier states that his concerns with this performance are that the queens “expose themselves to the kids innocently enjoying Christmas festivities” near the Saenger Theatre. The show is a private, ticketed event not open to the public or children and is a strictly 18+ event where ID’s will be checked.
Read Uthmeier’s letter below:
“This is a private venue at this point, and so don’t buy a ticket … don’t go. If that’s something that’s entertaining to you then you buy your ticket and go,” Jared Moore of the Pensacola City Council remarked last month.
“A Drag Queen Christmas” is on a national tour and is also coming to the Hard Rock Live in Orlando on Dec. 21 and the Duke Energy Center for the Arts Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg on Dec. 22. The Pensacola Saenger Theatre show will be held on Dec. 23, two days before Christmas.
Hosted by Nina West and presented by Murray & Peter, it features fellow “RuPaul’s Drag Race” icons like Lexi, Bosco, Shea Coulee, Jewels Sparkles, Crystal Methyd, Suzie Toot, Brooke Lynn Hytes and Lydia B. Kollins.
Uthmeier specifically called Toot a “demonic Betty Bop” and slammed Methyd, claiming they’ve dressed up satanic themes to be “glamorous and beautiful.”
Local Carson Wilber, in collaboration with the Friends of the Saenger Inc., have created a GoFundMe to help show that people in Pensacola support the event. So far the fundraiser has accumulated $2,914, past their original $1,363 goal.
“In the face of angry, aggressive, and astonishingly un-American sermons from the public pulpit, our local drag queens, LGBT+ leaders, friends and family joined together to defend our community and share their stories of belonging and self-worth resulting from their personal experiences with drag.” Wilber stated in the GoFundMe.
Watch a preview below:
Find tickets to A Drag Queen Christmas on DragFans.com.
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