A Dallas bar and restaurant hosted a drag brunch on Saturday afternoon, drawing in a crowd of roughly 20 attendees who watched performances by a variety of drag queens.
Monkey King Noodle Company is a Deep Ellum eatery, with locations in Richardson and Grapevine as well, that serves northern Chinese street food-inspired meals and hosts drag shows on the weekend.
The restaurant, owned by well-known restauranter Andrew Chen, officially reopened on January 5 after being closed for multiple months.
The Dallas Express was unable to obtain a list of the performers at the bar, but the event included dances and lip-synced performances to sexually explicit songs, as well as games that got the crowd involved during the event.
Although The Dallas Express was unable to determine the names of the performers, DX did confirm that there were no underage individuals at the performance, with attendees required to be 18 or older.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the presence of children at drag performances such as this has led to protests by activist groups, leading lawmakers to draft legislation to prevent underage attendance in the future.
SB 12 officially bans venues from hosting “sexually oriented performance[s] … in the presence of an individual younger than 18 years of age.” However, a court ruling currently prevents the state from enforcing the law, pending further litigation.
In addition to concerns about the presence of underage individuals at the performances, some critics of drag shows believe they are disrespectful toward women.
These concerns prompted West Texas A&M president Walter Wendler to cancel a drag show on the school’s campus in March 2023, telling the university community that the shows are “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, no matter the stated intent.”
“Drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” he added in an email sent to teachers, students, and staff, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
On the other hand, drag performer Emeka Bless previously told The Dallas Express that drag performers do not mean to be disrespectful toward anyone.
“It’s liberating. It’s freedom of expression. … We like to put on makeup, wigs, and we just like to entertain a crowd,” explained Bless.