Drag Race’s River Medway claims Crocs pulled DragCon sponsorship over ‘backlash from extreme right’
Drag queen River Medway called out Crocs on Twitter after they allegedly pulled out of DragCon. (Getty/PinkNews)
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star River Medway has accused Crocs of “performative” allyship after allegedly dropping out of sponsoring DragCon over fears of backlash from the “extreme right”.
River Medway, who appeared on the third series in 2021, took aim at the shoe company on Tuesday (January 10) on Twitter.
The 24-year-old performer tweeted: “also btw @Crocs dropped out of sponsoring dragcon (the day before) because they were worried about the backlash from the extreme right! let it be known that they are not allies and any “support” for our community has been performative.”
Responding to her own tweet, the Medway-born star added “also crocs are f ***ing ugly anyway”.
PinkNews has contacted both Crocs and DragCon organisers for comment about the allegations but is still waiting for a response.
RuPaul’s DragCon 2023 took place last weekend (6-8 January) at ExCeL London, with more than 100 queens from across the Drag Race franchises in attendance.
Crocs were featured on the event’s exhibitors list for the main stage and were set to offer limited edition RuPeter Jibbitz charms, as well as sponsor a children’s fashion show on the Sunday.
The brand quickly came under fire for sponsoring the children’s event from right-wing opponents, who accused the shoe company of sexualising children.
On 3 January, the Washington Examiner also reported that people in the US were burning their Crocs in response.
Fox TV anchor Jimmy Failla also weighed in and called Crocs’ association with the fashion show “disgusting”.
“And what you see happening on the left – this reminds me a lot of the Balenciaga ad where we were all worked up about the kids in bondage – is a lot of people on the left are turning children into fashion accessories.
“Like it’s cool to say, ‘Oh, my kid goes to drag shows,’ but deep down we know that’s not right. We all know,” he said.
Following the outrage, a TikTok video taken by an attendee at DragCon showed a roller banner thanking the event’s sponsors where the Crocs logo had been covered over with purple tape.
An Instagram post promoting the children’s fashion show, which has been reposted on Twitter, also appears to have been deleted from RuPaul’s DragCon Instagram account.
Crocs’ apparent sponsorship backtrack has been met in equal measure with fury from the LGBTQ+ community.
Many people have accused the brand, which has produced several Pride collections, of not being true allies.
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