A “family friendly” drag event scheduled to take place in Jasper, Indiana, got canceled this week after the Twitter account Libs of TikTok included it in the “mega thread” of drag events targeting kids.
“Pride in the Park” was advertised as being an “all ages” event. The flyer, which Libs of TikTok shared in the post, said tips were greatly appreciated since drag “is not cheap.”
That tweet alone got more than one thousand retweets and over 3.8K likes.
Event sponsors Dubois County Pride announced Wednesday that the drag show was canceled because of the backlash.
“We regretfully announce that due to safety and security concerns, the family-friendly drag performance planned for Pride in the Park has been cancelled,” their statement posted to Facebook said. “This decision was jointly made by the City of Jasper, ONE- Dubois County, and the Dubois County Pride committee.”
“While the Dubois County Pride committee is disappointed by this development, we are in no way deterred. Our mission to promote and advocate love and equality remains steadfast,” the statement continued.
They went on to say that while the drag show wasn’t happening, the Pride in the Park would go on with bands, games, circus performances, face painters, and other entertainment for the family.
One activist was not pleased with this update. “Libs of Tik Tok gloating about inciting stochastic terrorism,” the person wrote on Twitter. “A drag show had to be cancelled due to safety and security concerns. Twitter just lets this go on while a campaign of terror is being inflicted on LGBTQ people and orgs.”
The Daily Wire previously reported about the mega thread on Libs of TikTok where the account gathered multiple examples of drag events being explicitly marketed to children. There were many examples of drag queen story hours at libraries, including some which are publicly funded.
“~MEGA DRAG THREAD~ They say it’s innocent. They say it’s just about inclusion and acceptance. They say no one is trying to confuse, corrupt, or sexualize kids. They lie,” she wrote in the opening tweet.
The first video showed a clip from a drag show. “A gay nightclub in Minnesota held a drag show for children earlier this month. One of the performers said in an interview ‘I want to give the kids an opportunity to see what drag queen/king life is like on a day to day basis,’” the caption says.
One venue promoted an event called “Drag the Kids To Pride” that encouraged children to come up on stage with the drag performers.