What’s the difference between a dragged up character spreading festive joy to those both young and old in a panto and a dragged up character spreading festive joy to those both young and old in a Christmas show?
Not very much at all, most would likely agree.
But certainly not if you are chronically online conservative grifter Young Bob, who thinks a drag queen giving an age-appropriate Christmas story reading for kids is totally different to performances by classic pantomime dames like Widow Twankey, which – obvs – are also drag.
Cue the “corporate wants you to find the difference between this picture and this picture” / “They’re the same image” meme.
As first reported by Metro – and the first in this year’s festive bingo of ‘right-wingers being outraged at Christmas by something innocuous’ – an conservative activist is raging that a drag queen is part of a Christmas theatre show in London.
The event, Drag Tales – Christmas Special by Dragged Around London, is taking place on 19 December at Richmond Theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames and stars Tania LeCoq, with an age guidance of 0-5 years.
“Christmas is Tania’s favourite holiday, so expect beloved Christmas stories brought to life through captivating storytelling, joyful carols, energetic dancing, and delightful puppet shows,” the show’s synopsis reads.
“This inclusive, family-friendly hour celebrates diversity and imagination while delivering sparkling Christmas magic with bubbles and plenty of decorations.”
Pantomines are a particular type of musical-comedy theatre show, usually based on fairytales and children’s stories such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Aladin, which are especially popular in the UK and Ireland and are usually performed around Christmas and New Year. They usually feature slapstick comedy, audience interaction, tongue-in-cheek pop culture references and the ‘Dame’ character – who is a woman played by a male actor.
Richmond Theatre has been criticised for running a 'perverted' Christmas drag show for children.
— Talk (@TalkTV) November 28, 2025
'Young Bob' explains why he will be protesting: "My generation are being sexualised through exposure to pornography, including drag queens."@samaramgill @WillKingston @YoungBobTPUK pic.twitter.com/OtAiPfico5
Discussing the show on TalkTV, which labelled it “woke nonsense”, 17-year-old Turning Point UK pundit Young Bob described it – and similar events – as pushing a “marxist delusion” which is “hypersexualising children through transing them”, adding: “Five-year-olds are too young to explore this material, and even teenagers.”
In a reply underneath TalkTV’s X post of a clip from the segment, he wrote: “Pushing fake news again. Their ‘community notes’ system is just moderators and Grok scraping whatever aligns with the algorithm’s preferred narrative. The reality is simple, this drag queen has a history of performing adult, kinky entertainment, nothing remotely close to a family friendly pantomime, and certainly not appropriate for children. Stop pretending this is harmless.”
C’mon, if drag performers cannot perform adult content for adults and child-appropriate content for children separately then by that logic any children’s performer who happens to be an adult cannot ever engage with adult life and content outside of that work.
In other words, The Wiggles should never have had a drop of alcohol pass their lips and Mr Tumble must never have watched a film rated 18+ in his downtime.
Responses on social media were much in agreement that Young Bob was unwarranted in his outrage about a very traditional bit of British culture.
Aaron Bastani, co-founder of Novera Media, said: “This is literally the panto. It’s not new.”
Karl Hansen, editor-at-large of left-wing Tribune Magazine, also replied: “There is nothing more British than a pantomime dame. Our young conservatives have been so Yankified they no longer recognise their own culture.”
Even Tom Harwood, who is the political editor for the far-right outlet that is GB News, wrote: “Poor guy. Never been taken to see a traditional family panto in his life.”
YouTuber Jack Jewell called Young Bob’s views a “boring take” and a “very American conservative angle” whilst a different user said they looked up the publicity stills for the show and said it “certainly looks milder than what I grew up with”, adding: “Turning Point UK are in danger of becoming a parody of themselves adopting American talking points.”
One user, who said they grew up going to pantomines at Richmond Theatre, said: “I saw several pantomimes at Richmond Theatre during my childhood, and there was nothing ‘perverted’ about any of the performances.
“No cast members exposing themselves and all, just wearing silly costumes and wigs for the laughs.”
Another user simply wrote: “Panto. That’s exactly what panto is. Who knew.”
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