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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is demanding the cancellation of a Christmas-themed drag show in Pensacola, accusing the event of being obscene and “openly anti-Christian.”
In a letter to the Pensacola City Council dated November 7, Uthmeier asked the Council to cancel a performance of “A Drag Queen Christmas,” a nationally touring drag show that’s planned to take place at the city-owned Saenger Theatre on December 23. The show features a lineup of RuPaul’s Drag Race luminaries including Bosco, Suzie Toot, Shea Couleé, Lexi, and host Nina West — who Uthmeier referred to in his letter as “men dressed as garish women in demonic costumes.”
The attorney general specifically flagged Toot as the “demonic Betty Bop,” apparently referring to, but misspelling, Toot’s Vogue photoshoot as Betty Boop. Uthmeier also denounced performer Crystal Methyd’s “glamorous” devil drag in Rolling Stone and alleged that Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor — who appeared in the show’s 2021 revue, but is not on the bill for 2025 — named herself “Trinity” as a “not-so-subtle stab at the fundamental doctrine of Christianity.”
Uthmeier’s letter, which he also posted to X, claimed the show “openly mocks one of the most sacred holidays in the Christian faith,” and called on the city council — which owns the 100-year-old historic theater — to cancel the performance by declaring it “injurious to the public health, safety, or general welfare of the community.”
“Such city-sanctioned religious mockery may amount to religious discrimination,” Uthmeier claimed in his letter, going on to baselessly speculate that any of the performers could “expose themselves to the kids innocently enjoying Christmas festivities” near the theater. “The show’s content is designed to inflame religious strife, its timing is intentional, and its proximity to children is unacceptably problematic,” he added. (The show is advertised “18+ welcome” on the Saenger Theatre website and Ticketmaster.)
“[H]onestly, if this were a nativity play and we were ‘men in dresses’ portraying the wisemen or angels, no one would bat an eye,” Lexi told The Advocate in a statement on Friday, calling Uthmeier’s description of the event inaccurate. “They’d probably praise it. The double standard is obvious.”
As the Pensacola News Journal noted, Uthmeier’s letter is not an official opinion from the AG’s office, which would carry more legal weight. Council meetings have for months seen other religious conservatives object to the show, including former state Rep. Mike Hill, who told the council in September that allowing the show would invite “God’s judgment and retribution,” according to WUWF. At the same meeting, City Attorney Adam Cobb reportedly warned that canceling the show’s contract could expose the city to lawsuits on contractual or constitutional grounds.