2
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JAN. 20, 2019
CLOTHING. SHOES. ACCESSORIES.
®
COMMUNION TRUNK SHOW
Christie Helene
Maci’s Design
Joan Calabrese
for Mon Cheri
50%
OFF
Join us for NYC Restaurant Week
from 1/21 to 2/8
Complete Lunch $26.00 Plus Tax & Gratuity
from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm
Complete Dinner $42.00
Plus Tax & Gratuity
Reservations Suggested (718) 833-8200
7717 3rdwww.GreenHouseCafe.com
AMAZING: Young Brooklynite Desmond Napoles — seen here outside Grand Army Plaza in full drag as
Desmond is Amazing — is not letting a bout of outrage from some conservative and other critics over
a recent performance stop his passion for performing, because he says his shows bring many others
sheer joy. Photo by Caroline Ourso
His show must go on
Young Brooklyn drag queen forges ahead
despite outrage over recent performance
BY COLIN MIXSON
The family of an 11-yearold
Brooklyn boy known
internationally as one of
the city’s most talked about
drag queens continues to receive
death threats, as well
as investigatory visits from
city social workers, weeks
after writers for conservative
and pro-life websites
ignited a fi restorm over
his recent performance at a
Williamsburg bar.
Mom Wendy Napoles
said haters of her son Desmond
Napoles — who performs
in drag as Desmond
is Amazing — fi led more
than 150 complaints with
the city’s Administration
for Children’s Services after
his December show at
Meserole Street gay bar 3
Dollar Bill, which went viral
when critics attacked
the performance as exploitative
“pedophilia” because
Desmond wore a crop top
while accepting cash from
the crowd.
Each of those complaints
necessitates its own 60-day
investigation, resulting
in almost daily home visits
from agency inspectors
— some of whom arrive as
late as 3 am, according to
Napoles.
“We’re prisoners in
our own home,” she said.
“They’ll come anytime.”
The mom, who said she
vets all of the venues where
Desmond performs to ensure
they’re safe and appropriate,
blasted her son’s
critics as homophobes,
claiming it’s perfectly legal
for a child to perform at
a bar if accompanied by an
adult.
“No clothes came off my
child,” she said. “I don’t understand
how people can
believe he was stripping,
there was a lot of homophobia
there.”
A Child Services spokeswoman
would not comment
on any individual case, but
said the agency’s policy is
to consolidate duplicate
complaints, all of which are
screened by a state register
that determines whether
they merit an investigation
by local authorities.
But Desmond — whose
mom said is depositing all
the money he makes performing
into a trust fund
he can’t access until he is
18 — isn’t letting the uproar
over his passion get
him down.
The fi fth grader, who
rose to fame after being
caught on camera dancing
in a rainbow tutu at the
city’s 2015 LGBTQ Pride
Parade, said the joy he fi nds
dressing up in wigs, skirts,
and lip stick is only bested
by the thrills his performances
bring to his fans.
“I like performing so
much,” he said. “I like to
entertain people, it makes
them happy.”
Ever since he could
walk, the Brooklyn-bornand
bred youngster showed
a performative streak, and
his interest in drag dates
back to when he habitually
stole clothes from Napoles
— who is now her son’s assistant
— to create genderbending
characters he’d
act out at home, she said.
Continued on page 12
/www.GreenHouseCafe.com