NYC Mayor Eric Adams Slammed for Promoting ‘Drag Storytellers’ in Schools: ‘Flee NYC While You Still Can’

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Joshua Klein

New York City Mayor Eric Adams faced severe backlash online following his praise for “drag storytellers” and their contributions to the school system and students, who he claimed could greatly benefit from such children-geared events. 

In a tweet posted Thursday evening, NYC Mayor Eric Adams expressed support for “drag storytellers” and their supporters, claiming they are advancing the values embraced by the Big Apple.

“Drag storytellers, and the libraries and schools that support them, are advancing a love of diversity, personal expression, and literacy that is core to what our city embraces,” he wrote.

In a follow-up tweet, Adams argued that the education system must “educate” and make students “emotionally intelligent” through such programs.

“At a time when our LGBTQ+ communities are under increased attack across this country, we must use our education system to educate,” he wrote. “The goal is not only for our children to be academically smart, but also emotionally intelligent.”

Following his remarks, Adams received a wave of backlash.

“No @NYCMayor men dressed as highly sexualized women do not belong in schools. It has nothing to do with diversity or literacy,” wrote New York congressional candidate Maud Maron.

“Would women dressed in sexy clothes help children learn to read? Why not? Stop caving to extremists and be the voice of moderation NYers voted for,” she added.

“So if drag queens have the right to be in schools, do parents have the right to take their children out?” asked writer Chris Pandolfo.

“What does it say about the quality of your education system when you need *this* guy to teach kids to read?” asked author Delano Squires.

“Why not just advocate for taking kids to strip clubs while you are at it?” asked media personality Lisa Boothe.

“They are just dudes in women’s clothes grooming kids. Stop it,” wrote journalist Kyle Becker.

“That’s fine, but you can’t keep ignoring drag performers exposing themselves to children, wearing sexually provocative clothing, engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior and/or showing up as a giant monkey with a dildo dangling from his crotch in order to support this goal,” wrote conservative writer and commentator Chad Felix Greene.

“I can think of hundreds of ways to promote literacy, kindness, and LGBT tolerance that don’t involve men, dressed as caricatures of women, performing during school,” wrote attorney Sarah Beth Burwick.

“Grooming is at the core of what NYC embraces?” asked Claremont Institute Communications Director Nick Short.

“NO Mr. Mayor exposing school age children to sexually explicit material & performances is a Class A Misdemeanor: § 260.10 Endangering the welfare of a child,” wrote podcaster John Macari.

“If drag queens are so ‘core to what our city embraces,’ why limit them to schools? Why not prove it and have them all around NYC, every day, and at a prominent place at every City function?” asked David Reaboi, Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute.

“Flee NYC while you still can,” wrote Rubin Report host and free speech advocate Dave Rubin.

“‘Advancing a love of diversity,’” mocked author Ashley St. Clair.

“This is the hill the Democrats want to die on. Pushing drag queens in schools. What insane clownworld are we living in?” wrote President of the New York Young Republican Club Gavin Mario Wax.

“Any national political aspirations he had are over,” he added.

The mayor’s comments come as New York City’s public schools continue to use tax money to pay drag queens to perform for children, often without parental knowledge or consent, according to city records.

Since its creation in 2018, Drag Queen Story Hour NYC — which recently changed its name to Drag Story Hour NYC — has received $207,000 in taxpayer funds.

On Wednesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was reported to have called for “a drag queen for every school,” with the openly gay Democrat explaining that, drag queens “make everything better” and are “fun.”

On Saturday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asserted that men freely expressing themselves in drag is “what America is all about,” in remarks made during an appearance on the seventh season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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