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John Oliver Defends 'Drag Race's Jaidynn Diore Fierce And Slams Republican
On Last Week Tonight John Oliver showed the drag queen some love while taking aim at a MAGA Republican.
John Oliver is standing up for drag queens!
On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver stood up for Drag Race’sJaidynn Diore Fierce against a ridiculous attack from a MAGA Republican hailing from Fierce’s home state of Tennessee.
Before getting to the main subject of the night’s episode, Oliver lambasted Gabrielle Hanson, a right-wing extremist who tried to block a Pride event earlier this year by holding up a picture of a Fierce dressed in an Elmo bodysuit and said that drag queens like that are a confusing threat to children.
@jaidynnfierce 🤓Reading is what??? FUNDAMENTAL! I am honored to be featured on @Last Week Tonight I am HOWLING at the reads! Before you bring me up, you can at least research HOW to say my name 💅🏾 @gabriellehansontn #ElmoisQUEEN ♬ original sound - Jaidynn Fierce
Oliver introduced Hanson, who is running against the incumbent Republican mayor in Franklin, Tennessee, by saying she has “branded herself as a hard-core MAGA candidate” and by showing a photo of the mayoral hopeful hanging out at Donald’s Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. “Look how happy she is there,” Oliver quipped. “That’s the face of someone who’s just dined out on a well-done steak and read some classified documents on the toilet.”
Oliver quickly used his sharp wit to take down Hanson’s argument that drag queens like Fierce, who frequently dresses up in cartoon character-inspired drag, are damaging to children. “But by that logic, we should ban children from walking around Times Square too,” Oliver pointed out as reported by Vanity Fair. “Because seeing Olaf from Frozen with his head popped off, smoking a Black & Mild, is way more confusing than someone wearing eye shadow in an Elmo-themed bodysuit.”
The late-night host also properly identified the drag queen as Jaidynn Diore Fierce—Hanson had pronounced her name incorrectly—who competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race season seven and who he said is “constantly serving cartoon looks.”
Oliver added, “Have you ever seen a Minion serve body? Because you have now.”
Not only has Hanson previously been embroiled in a number of controversies, including allegedly lying about dining with a diverse group of supporters, criticizing a Juneteenth celebration, and being supported by a white nationalist group, but Oliver pointed out that she is also a hypocrite.
Oliver showed a photo of her husband wearing an American flag Speedo—a dare from his wife—while at 2008’s Chicago Pride Parade. “So to recap,” Oliver said in his most hilarious line of the episode. “Snatched Elmo: irreparably harmful to children. Star-spangled ball bag: That’s apparently completely fine with her.”
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
