PHOENIX – Kari Lake, the frontrunner within the Republican main for Arizona governor, condemned the rising cultural clout of drag queens, leaping into the newest social grievance taking maintain on the best.

However her feedback have been rapidly criticized over the weekend by one of the crucial in style drag performers in Phoenix, who says Lake is a hypocrite who frequented his performances.

Richard Stevens, who performs as Barbra Seville, mentioned Lake, a former tv information anchor, recurrently attended drag exhibits and even employed him to decorate as Marilyn Monroe at a personal get together and introduced her younger daughter. He posted pictures on his social media accounts of Lake posing with drag queens and screenshots of his conversations with her.

The dispute between the gubernatorial frontrunner and the distinguished drag queen drew nationwide consideration and put Lake on the defensive two weeks earlier than early voting begins forward of Arizona’s Aug. 2 main. It additionally fuels a persistent criticism of Lake’s conversion from Barack Obama donor to Donald Trump conservative.

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“They kicked God out of colleges and welcomed the Drag Queens,” Lake tweeted on Friday evening. “They took down our Flag and changed it with a rainbow. They search to disarm People and militarize our Enemies. Let’s carry again the fundamentals: God, Weapons & Glory.”

Stevens responded on social media the following morning: “I’ve carried out for her. I’ve carried out for her household. I’ve met her youngsters. I’ve been in her residence, and I’ve her non-public telephone quantity and her non-public Fb account.”

He informed The Related Press on Monday that he stayed in contact with Lake and privately defended her at the same time as she ran a far-right marketing campaign that he disagreed with. However when she got here after drag queens, he mentioned, “this hypocrisy actually bothered me.”

“I used to be simply personally offended by that tweet,” Stevens mentioned.

Stevens mentioned he first met Lake within the late Nineteen Nineties, when he carried out recurrently at a homosexual bar close to the KSAZ studios, the place Lake was a night anchor. He mentioned Lake and her coworkers would typically cease by the bar’s weekly drag present after the published, and he acknowledged her from watching the information. They finally struck up a friendship, he mentioned. She would ask him for sources to debate points affecting the LGBTQ group, and he sometimes appeared on Fox 10 broadcasts.

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Lake as soon as employed him to carry out as Marilyn Monroe at a coworker’s child bathe a couple of decade in the past, and there he met her daughter, whom he remembers being round 9 or 10 years previous.

As Stevens’ submit rapidly gained traction on social media Saturday, Lake’s marketing campaign initially responded by drawing a distinction between a drag performer and a person impersonating a feminine superstar.

The marketing campaign published a statement Sunday condemning the media for masking the controversy and threatening to sue Stevens for defamation.

“Like most sane individuals, Kari Lake may be very a lot against grown males or ladies dancing provocatively for kids, particularly on the expense of the taxpayer,” the assertion mentioned. “Why would anybody be against this?”

The assertion known as Stevens a “gifted comic and performer that Kari Lake coated throughout her TV profession” and pointed to his assist for Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

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A spokesman for Lake, Russ Trumble, declined to remark additional Monday, saying “it’s a authorized matter now.”

Lake jumped rapidly into the frontrunner’s place after launching a marketing campaign that energized the GOP base and earned Trump’s endorsement. She has aggressively promoted false claims that the 2020 election was marred by fraud. However she faces a problem from businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson, who’s household fortune has allowed her to vastly outspend Lake on tv advertisements, and from former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon.

Drag exhibits function males dressing in flamboyant ladies’s clothes whereas dancing and singing or lip-syncing. As soon as a comparatively obscure subculture, they’ve have exploded into the mainstream with the recognition of the tv hit “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Some performances, notably light-night occasions at bars, will be risque. Others are promoted as household pleasant affairs, reminiscent of drag queen story hour.

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Lake’s drag queen tweet latched onto a problem that caught fireplace this month with conservatives across the nation who say drag exhibits are sexualizing kids.

Lawmakers in a number of states have launched laws making an attempt to ban kids from drag exhibits, and GOP leaders of the Arizona Senate say they’ve plans for the same invoice.

“The actual fact is, drag has existed eternally,” Stevens mentioned. “I’ve been doing drag longer than Kari has been a Republican. However if you wish to outlaw drag in entrance of children, you higher liberate your calendar as a result of it’s ingrained in our tradition. The primary drag queen I noticed was Buggs Bunny.”