Drag Race royalty Priyanka called ‘peadophile’ and ‘groomer’ after appearing in Disney ad
Priyanka in the Disney+ Hocus Pocus 2 advert. (Twitter/Disney+)
Canada’s Drag Race season one winner Priyanka has seen homophobic backlash after doing a promo for the new Disney+ movie Hocus Pocus 2.
In the video, Priyanka does a spooky spell before switching into a witch’s costume and letting people know that Hocus Pocus 2 is out on 30 September. That’s literally it.
Despite the harmless video, bigoted trolls on Twitter have been out in full force attacking Priyanka, an increasingly concerning trend for drag queens.
Among the insults, words such as “peadophile” and “groomer” were flung at her, and accusations that Disney had ruined itself by going “woke”.
Priyanka spoke out against the hatred on her own account, tweeting: “Does an exciting collaboration with Disney, gets called a peadophile and groomer, the homophobia is alive and well in 2022.”
Canada, we want to Spell-ebrate the release of #HocusPocus2 streaming on Sept 30!
Stay tuned to the Disney+ Canada accounts + @thequeenpri account for a very special invitation that you are going to want to RSVP to… coming soon!#sponsored #ad #CastASpellCanada pic.twitter.com/hlWHqmQkSZ— Disney+ Canada 🇨🇦 (@DisneyPlusCA) September 22, 2022
She also took to the comments to hit back at the criticism there, responding to one person who claimed that Disney was destroying their brand.
“Disney is destroying everyone with how iconic they are!!!” She responded.
Priyanka, who started their career as a children’s TV host, began performing as a drag queen in 2017, and let another hater know that they used to work with children professionally.
Meanwhile when one user tweeted “sick”, Priyanka iconically responded: “No no I’m OK, I’m in good health. Thank you for your concern.”
There were others who were also coming to Priyanka’s defence in the comments section.
As one person wrote: “Priyanka is literally doing a collaboration with a Disney movie to get people excited about Halloween.
“We are not discussing anything remotely inappropriate here and yet you disgusting, close-minded and ignorant people bring it up.”
While another added: “People clearly hate themselves, keep living your truth and giving us what we need in the world…”
Priyanka joins a long line of queens who have come under attack through protests and backlash in recent months.
In the UK, drag queens such as Aida H Dee have had to battle with protestors outside their drag queen story times.
As Drag Race UK comes back for a fourth season, the queens have spoken out against the abuse the drag community has faced, hoping more positive representation can be brought to mainstream media.
