Disney Drag Brunch Canceled After Targeted by Right-Wing Trolls
A bar in Texas was forced to cancel an all-ages drag show after receiving a barrage of threatening messages from online conservatives.Cool Beans Bar and Grill in Denton reports receiving “aggressive phone calls and hateful comments” over a Disney-themed drag brunch open to all ages.
The event was scheduled for Sunday, until right-wing figures began falsely attacking them for “grooming children” in the days before the event was scheduled.Located in a town 40 miles from Dallas, on the campus of the University of North Texas, Cool Beans caters mostly to college-age students.
A former employee has called the venue a welcoming space for the queer community. The venue used to have a weekly trivia night ran by "a fabulous, infamous, and queer host who made everyone feel like they belonged, the employee, Megan Queen, told the Dallas Observer.Before the weekend began, Sara Gonzales, host of a conservative program on Glen Beck's Blaze TV, took to Twitter to target the drag show to her 250,000 followers.She wrote, alongside a flier for the event: “Cool Beans Bar and Grill in Denton, TX is hosting an ALL AGES drag show THIS SUNDAY.
Who’s coming with me to shut it down?”The next figure to fuel the online flames was former State Senator and current gubernatorial candidate, Don Huffines, who tweeted: “The devil is coming for your kids.”He added, “What are you going to do to stop this madness?”Gonzales claimed it is “child abuse” to take “young children to sexually explicit shows where men dress up like women and dance provocatively for money.”Without evidence, she accused Cool Beans staff of being “pedophiles” who were using the Disney theme to “indoctrinate” children.Hours later, Cool Beans announced the cancellation of the show,.
