The drag performer Lil’ Miss Hot Mess has called out Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) “hateful” ignorance and fascism after Greene called her a “monster” and a “child predator” during a congressional hearing this week.
Greene discussed the drag performer in a Tuesday hearing about defunding PBS and NPR. Greene accused the public broadcasters of becoming “radical left-wing echo chambers” and “grooming and sexualizing children.”
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During the hearing, Greene played a PBS YouTube video showing Lil Miss Hot Mess reading her 2020 children’s book The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish. The video showed the performer in drag, but her song’s lyrics are non-vulgar, largely being a modern take on the classic children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus.”
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“That’s repulsive. That’s not what children ages three to eight should ever be watching: a grown biological man posing as a woman,” Greene said at the hearing. “As a mother, if I had walked in my living room or one of my children’s bedrooms and seen this child predator and this monster targeting my children, I would become unglued.”
PBS CEO Paula Kerger clarified that the video was part of a collaborative project between the New York City Department of Education and New York’s public broadcasting parent company, WNET, and was not funded or distributed by PBS. Though the video “was mistakenly put on the website of our New York City station,” Kerger explained, it “was immediately pulled down” and “never broadcast.”
Elsewhere during the hearing, Greene said, “[PBS] has leaned further and further left, so much so that they now have Drag Queen Story Time instead of good old Sesame Street,” she continued. It’s unclear what she is referring to. PBS Newshour aired a segment that discussed Drag Queen Story Hour in 2019, but PBS doesn’t regularly air drag queen programming. Meanwhile, Sesame Street is still on the air.
“They are now part of transing children, brainwashing children about gender,” she claimed.
"The hips go swish, swish, swish? … that's repulsive" — Marge Green is big mad
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
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In response to Greene’s insults, the drag performer wrote on Facebook, “Marjorie Taylor Greene should find another hobby besides attacking drag queens, public media, and other beloved American institutions. Sadly, I’m not surprised by her calling me hateful names. But the unfortunate irony of Green’s political bullying is that while she claims to promote liberty, in reality, she just wants to tell us all what to think and do. That’s not freedom. That’s fascism.”
“Greene’s attempts to defund PBS and NPR are the worst form of censorship, reflecting her own ignorance and the Republican Party’s authoritarian impulses,” the drag performer added. “The reality is that communities all over the country, including in her own district, deserve access to educational public media that reflects the diversity and creativity that makes our world beautiful.”
“Let’s be real,” Lil Miss Hot Mess continued. “We’ve all seen this before, and this rerun is tired and boring. Greene’s distracting transphobia and homophobia harms real LGBTQ children and adults, and teaches nothing but hate. Frankly, I’d be horrified to watch her kids show. Americans can decide for themselves who the real monster is.”
“Ultimately, Greene should learn a lesson from drag performers,” Lil Miss Hot Mess concluded. “Rather than spreading disinformation and hate, leading with kindness, love. and joy (plus a flawless face) will get you everywhere you need to go in life.”
Democrats mocked Greene for her “goofy” hearing and criticized Republicans for trying to silence a free informational public service.
Gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) jokingly asked PBS CEO Paula Kerger if beloved Sesame Street character Elmo is a communist, considering he’s red. He also asked if firing Cookie Monster would silence the “pro-cookie vote” in U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s war on junk food.
He also asked Kerger if Ernie and Bert are “part of an extreme homosexual agenda.” Kerger said no.
Garcia then got serious. “A large majority of Americans say they trust PBS,” he explained, “and that’s exactly why extremists are trying to tear it down. Public broadcasting is a tool for education, for emergencies, and a cherished part of our national fabric. We get huge benefits from a tiny federal investment.” He accused Greene and the broader GOP of attempting to “silence media voices they don’t like.”
He then said “if were gonna get rid of any puppeteers,” it should be the one currently controlling the Executive Branch. “Fire Elon Musk and save Elmo,” he said.
PBS and NPR receive part of their budgets from the federal government—the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which runs both PBS and NPR, receives about $500 million in federal funding each year, or about $1.60 from each American, on average. The stations have been the targets of right-wing ire about excessive government spending for decades despite the tiny impact they have on the federal budget.
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