Singer and actress Hayley Kiyoko resisted Tenessee’s drag ban when she brought local drag queens onstage to help celebrate her Panorama tour.
Kiyoko, who identifies as a lesbian, explained that she was invited on stage at LGBTQ+ bar PlayNashville while on a day off from tour.
While there, she asked the club’s drag performers to join her at her Nashville show the next night. However, an undercover police officer at the concert venue threatened the star with “legal action” if she brought the drag artists out.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Hayley Kiyoko in an Instagram video filmed just before the show.
“I am getting ready for my show tonight and was really excited to bring out some incredible drag performers and there’s an undercover cop at the venue and apparently my show, because it’s all ages, we can’t have drag performers at the show.”
“We’re trying to figure out if there’s a workaround or what the situation is. This is f**ked up. This is so f**ked. I’m so sorry to my community. I’m devastated,” she continued, as she began to cry.
“This is not right. It’s not OK. My heart just goes out to everyone navigating this. This is not OK. I love you all, keep being yourselves.”
In March, Tennessee became the first US state to pass a bill that bans drag performances in public, or wherever they can be seen by a minor.
The 32 year-old singer then updated fans after the concert, sharing image of the brave drag artists who despite threats, went on stage to share their art.
“I never want to put anyone in a position to be at risk or in danger in any way. But also where is the line of being silenced? How do we navigate these absurd threats and laws against our community?,” she questioned, adding that the drag performers, LiberTea and Ivy St James, defiantly decided to come out on stage anyway, showing “no fear” of the vile drag ban.
Kiyoko is the latest artist to publicly defy the absurd Tennessee ban on drag queens.
Last month, Lizzo invited “Drag Race” icons Aquaria, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Asia O’Hara and Kandy Muse on stage to perform with her.
Maren Morris introducing her son to drag queens before bringing them on-stage at the LGBTQ+ benefit concert ‘Love Rising’ and dared law enforcement to “arrest me.”
During her CMT Music Awards performance, Kelsea Ballerini shared the stage with Manila Luzon, Kennedy Davenport, Jan Sport, and Olivia Lux.
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