Lizzo’s recent performance, which featured multiple drag queens as a protest against the pending drag ban in Tennessee, sent right-wing media into a frenzy, questioning whether she should be arrested and amplifying “groomer” smears against the performers.

Over the weekend, Grammy award-winning singer Lizzo performed in Knoxville, Tennessee, where a temporarily halted state law would criminalize drag performances across the state. While performing her song “Everybody’s Gay,” Lizzo featured multiple drag performers who were RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni in protest of the pending law. 

Tennessee SB 3, referred to as the Tennessee “drag ban,” would ban public “adult cabaret performance” throughout the state. As one of many anti-drag bills currently seen in legislatures across the country, Tennessee’s SB 3 became the first to be signed into law this year by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on March 2. On March 31, just as the bill was set to take effect, a federal judge temporarily blocked the implementation of the bill on First Amendment grounds. 

The bill itself has vague language, which leaves room for the ban to be applied to any performances which “appeals to a prurient interest.” The Human Rights Campaign rightly characterized this bill as a continued attack on the LGBTQ community and “an attempt to put LGBTQ+ people, particularly transgender and non-binary people, back in the closet and labeled as dangerous.” 

Right-wing media reactions to Lizzo’s performance ranged from calling for the singer to be jailed to asserting unfounded claims that she is showing support for the Nashville Covenant School shooter:

• During her April 24 show, Candace Owens made the dubious assertion that Lizzo’s performance featuring drag performers to “reassert… support for the LGBTQIA community” is misguided, and that those who are deserving of support are the families of those killed in the Covenant School shooting in nearby Nashville. Owens claimed that Lizzo is effectively “showing support… for the people who think like the shooter does,” referencing the Covenant School shooter who is reported to be transgender. Owens continued on to say that she is “sickened by Lizzo … I just cannot even make sense of how completely screwed up your mind has to be to think this way.”
• In an article about Lizzo’s inclusion of drag performers in her concert, far-right outlet InfoWars made the dubious claim that “the media and Hollywood continue to ignore the families of the victims who were gunned down by a ‘trans’ shooter at the Covenant Christian school in Nashville last month.” 
• Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren questioned why “adult men want to sexy dance for children,” and said  that “they can’t answer that question because we all know the answer is pure perversion.”
• The Daily Wire misrepresented the pending drag ban in its coverage of Lizzo’s performance, claiming that the purpose of the ban is to “protect children from sexually explicit performances.” The piece also made dubious claims of footage showing children at “sexually explicit drag shows.” 
• Daily Wire host Matt Walsh tweeted “throw her in jail” in response to footage from Lizzo’s concert featuring drag performers. 
• Media Right News questioned on Twitter, “Will Lizzo be arrested?” 
• Outkick minimized the effects of the pending ban, claiming that both Lizzo and the mainstream media believe that “police in Tennessee are just arresting drag queens left and right in the streets.” Instead, Outkick chose to characterize the ban as “a ban on sexual performances in the presence of minors.” 
• In its coverage of Lizzo’s performance, Fox News Digital glossed over the effects of the pending ban, claiming that the ban is building on “existing restriction on ‘adult-oriented businesses in Tennessee” and “expanding obscenity laws,” promoting the harmful narrative of drag performers doing sexually explicit shows in front of children.