George Pudlo, who performs under the stage name Maebe A. Girl and William "Billy" Drinkwater, who previously performed under the name Kitty Demure discussed drag shows during Friday's episode of The Culture War With Tim Pool.
Pudlo, who is the first drag performer to be elected to public office in the United States, was elected to serve Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in Los Angeles, California in 2019. Pudlo subsequently challenged California congressional representative Adam Schiff, though did not succeed in ousting the incumbent in 2020.
Drinkwater gained prominence in the LGBTQ community after publicly coming out against the incorporation of children in drag performances and other LGBTQ settings including "drag queen story hour."
Drinkwater has not performed in several years, though has moved into gay night club management in Los Angeles.
"Back in 2019, I was noticing this phenomenon of drag queens going into libraries and other venues to read to children," Drinkwater told host Tim Pool. "I didn't understand why that was happening."
Drinkwater, who referred to drag performances as "an illusion," claims he saw someone he personally knew, who was engaged in prostitution and drug use, participating in a drag queen story hour.
"I started noticing they were not representing the drag community ... in a very flattering way," he continued. "That's the one thing that got to me."
Pudlo countered Drinkwater's comments saying the city council member didn't think it was inappropriate for drag performers to read to children.
"I think what is inappropriate is describing the drag community, the idea of doing drag as a monolith," Pudlo said, suggesting critics were unaware of who drag performers were. "I believe that there are appropriate interactions for particular situations."
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Pudlo continued denoting a difference in performance between a nightclub drag show and a drag queen reading to children. However, Pudlo agreed children shouldn't attend drag performances asserting the phenomenon wasn't happening because night clubs were 21+ venues.
The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member said there's no "validation" in excluding drag performers from reading to children.
"I do think that there's a difference between being a drag performer and reading to children in an age-appropriate context versus being a drag performer and doing a more explicit number in a nightclub."
The conversation continued as Pudlo insisted there were age-appropriate drag performances for children adding the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council member was in favor of the "free the nipple" movement, which seeks to de-sexualize the appearance of female breasts in public settings.
Pool referenced 16-year-old drag performer Desmond Napoles, who performs under the stage name Desmond is Amazing, to which Pudlo insisted the youth performer wasn't being encouraged to engage in the act by their parents.
"Queer people and trans people are overwhelmingly ostracized in the society that we live in," Pudlo said. "I don't think that a person who didn't want to engage in that would choose to engage in that knowing the kind of ostracism and criticism and hatred that would come to follow."
Pudlo insisted criticism of Napoles was more "disgusting" than the act of the 16-year-old performing in drag.
Pool asserted drag shows were conducted in exchange for money for a sexualized performance.
Drinkwater and Pudlo detailed similar experiences growing up though engaged in a back-and-forth debate regarding parents teaching "tolerance" to LGBTQ children.
Towards the end of the debate, Pool questioned Pudlo invoking the Daily Wire's Matt Walsh's infamous question, "What is a woman?"
Drinkwater noted the ethos of drag asserted sexually dimorphic differences between males and females, citing drag queens "tucking" male genitalia to appear as female. Pudlo, however, asserted the world was viewed through a "binary lens."
"The idea of a man and the idea of a woman is actually so expansive," Pudlo said, adding there was nuance to the question. "I think it's up to the individual to decide."
Pudlo also referenced the existence of intersex people claiming the question was "denigrating."
Pudlo will seek Schiff's seat in the 2024 congressional election as the incumbent congressional representative has launched a campaign seeking California Senator Diane Feinstein's seat in the upcoming election cycle.
