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'She is a complete hypocrite': Phoenix drag queen calls out Kari Lake for saying drag shows a danger to children

Barbra Seville said she has performed at Lake's birthday with her children present.
Credit: 12 News

PHOENIX — Well-known Phoenix drag queen, Barbra Seville, is spilling the tea about old friend and Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona governor, Kari Lake.

In a Facebook post on Friday, Seville, who Phoenix Magazine described as a "Drag Queen Extraordinaire," called Lake a hypocrite for her recent comments about drag queens being a danger to children.

According to Phoenix Magazine, Richard Stevens has entertained Valley audiences as Barbra Seville, a sassy character who "looks a bit like Bette Midler and talks a lot like Joan Rivers." Seville also has a YouTube show where she does impersonations of Jan Brewer and Paula Deen. Seville's drag queen persona on Twitter has criticized the Trump wing of the Republican party on social media in the past.

Seville said she has performed at Lake's birthday with her children present. She said Lake has come to her parties and has been asked to leave because bouncers thought she was too intoxicated to remain on the premises.

"Kari was a friend of mine, and I stood by her when she turned to the right. I reached out (and she responded repeatedly) when she took a public drubbing. It looks like she's recently blocked me on fb, but forgot to block her private page," Seville said.

In her post, Seville shared photos of Lake posing with her while she was in drag and Lake in drag herself as Elvis Presley.

Now that @karilake Kari Halperin has waded in to the war on drag queens, know she is a complete hypocrite. I've...

Posted by Barbra Seville on Friday, June 17, 2022

In a 2014 Instagram post, Lake said, "Half of what I learned about makeup I learned from watching friends like Barbra Seville," and included a picture of herself hugging the drag queen."

Lake's campaign issued a statement Saturday saying, "Richard's accusations are full of lies. The event in question was a party at someone else's house and the performer was there as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. It wasn't a drag show and the issue we're talking about isn't adults attending drag shows, either. The issue is activists sexualizing children and that has got to stop."

On Sunday, Lake tweeted a statement saying in part, "The Media is the Enemy of the People. And frankly — the right hand of the Devil."   

Lake also said she is serving Seville with a defamatory lawsuit. 

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