After Rob Schneider slammed the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony for its drag queen "Last Supper" tableau, his daughter, Elle King, has seemingly hit back by showing her support for drag queens.
Friday's show came under fire for an opening shot that saw a close-up of DJ Barbara Butch dressed as a goddess complete with a halo and as the camera panned out, revealed models draped on either side of her.
Many believed it represented famed Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper," which depicts Jesus at a long table with the Twelve Apostles. The re-enactment featured drag queens and dancers behind a shimmery blue naked body on a plate at the center of the table.
Schneider took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the segment as disrespectful to Christianity and criticized the fact that there were "bearded drag queens everywhere."
Now King—a singer and musician—has seemingly fired back in a series of Instagram stories posted on Monday. In one she said "Drag is not a crime."
Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Schneider and contacted King via Instagram for comment on Tuesday.
In one of the Instagram stories, King was dressed up in drag, with her outfit consisting of corduroy pants, a leather waistcoat and a stick-on mustache. The image was accompanied by the text, "Drag is not a crime."
In a follow-up post, she posed with members of Grateful Drag, an "all-star collective of queer and allied East Nashville talent." In the post, she wrote: "We are all born naked, the rest is drag." This is a quote that is used prominently by world-renowned drag queen RuPaul.
For her third post to her story, King re-shared a post that looks to be a behind-the-scenes shot of her filming with the band.
Her posts come after Schneider shared a series of posts to X (formerly Twitter) condemning drag and calling the Olympic ceremony "shameful."
"Disgusting attack on Christianity. Of course the Olympic ceremony had no parody of Islam. It's always open season to attack and denigrate the religion of love, forgiveness and redemption," one of Schneider's posts read.
He added: "I am sorry to say to ALL the world's GREATEST ATHLETES, I wish you ALL THE BEST, but I cannot watch an Olympics that disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan. I sincerely hope THESE @Olympics get the same amount of viewers as @cspan."
In two other posts, he openly condemned drag queens, sharing a screenshot of the blue man sitting on the table.
"Guys with their genitalia hanging out in front of children?! Drag Queens?! I wasn't sure if I was watching the @Olympics or if I was watching a school board meeting..." one post reads.
A spokesperson for Paris 2024 told Newsweek that the opening ceremony's director, Thomas Jolly, "has said on several occasions, the opening ceremony has been conceived as a celebration of togetherness and tolerance."
"You will never find in my work any desire to mock or denigrate anyone. I wanted to create a ceremony that would repair, reconcile, and reaffirm the values that are those of our Republic," Jolly said via the spokesperson.
Schneider is no stranger to sharing his social and political posts online and his latest comments align with those of many Republicans, who have taken aim at drag shows, with some saying that they expose children to sexual themes.
The backlash against drag shows has gone hand in hand with attacks on the transgender community by conservatives across the country and amid conservatives' nationwide push for restrictions regarding LGBTQ+ rights. Some Republican-led states such as Tennessee, have sought to ban drag shows in public spaces that can be accessed by minors.
Republicans argue that such laws are necessary to protect children. Critics, however, call attention to the lack of data to back up concerns that drag queens pose a threat to minors, viewing the legislation as unfairly targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
Schneider has previously dressed up as women for TV and movies and played a man who swapped places with a teenage girl in the movie The Hot Chick. He also appeared in the 2000 movie Little Nicky, a comedy about the son of Satan.
King rose to fame in 2012 and in 2015 made it into the Billboard top 10 with "Ex's & Oh's." In 2022, she released a country music-inspired remix of Canadian singer Dax's song "Dear Alcohol."
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
