Video of a drag queen in Massachusetts leading a group of young kids to chant “Free Palestine” has sparked fierce backlash — with some calling it “indoctrination” that is “wrong on every level.”
The encounter, which unfolded at a “Queer Storytime for Palestine” event organized by the Valley Families for Palestine group in Amherst last week, had gone viral by Thursday as outrage mounted.
“Today what we’re going to do is shout ‘Free Palestine.’ Can I hear that?” the drag queen, known as “Lil Miss Hot Mess,” was filmed telling the children in the 30-second clip.
“If you’re a drag queen and you know it, and you really want to show it, if you’re a drag queen and you know it, shout ‘Free Palestine.’”
The kids could be heard mimicking the drag queen by repeatedly chanting “Free Palestine.”
Furious critics were quick to point out the hypocrisy of a drag queen touting the phrase given the harsh treatment of LGBTQ people in Gaza.
“The harsh reality? Members of the LGBTQ+ community are often murdered in Gaza and other Palestinian areas such as Ramallah,” Stop Antisemitism tweeted alongside the recording.
“Often times members of the LGBTQ+ community seek refuge in Israel as their lives are endangered and their families excommunicate them. Were these children taught these points?”
Others, too, piled on.
“An indoctrination double whammy: ‘Free Palestine’ meets ‘drag queen story hour,’” Eitan Fischberger, a former Israel Defense Forces sergeant, tweeted.
“If people can’t see that drag queens teaching kids to chant ‘Free Palestine’ is wrong on every level, then they seriously are part of the problem,” British TV host and politician Nigel Farage raged in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Jake Wallis Simons, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, quipped: “Seriously. Yahya Sinwar, Putin, Xi and the Ayatollah are laughing so hard (and sharpening their knives).”
“Drag Queen Story Hour somehow just got worse,” the Citizen Free Press declared.
The organizers of the event had earlier shared a slew of photos on its Instagram account of the young children and their parents watching on smiling as the drag queen performed for them.
The group also boasted of the “important lessons” the kids learned during the story time event.
“We came together today in joy and solidarity and learned some important lessons about being ourselves, using our voices to speak out against injustice, and being fabulous while we do it,” a caption on the post read.
Valley Families for Palestine and the drag queen didn’t immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about the backlash.
