Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider has weighed in on the issue of drag in the military, specifically Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s denial of a promotion for an admiral, apparently because the admiral had approved a drag performance.
“Pete Hegseth apparently rescinded an admiral’s promotion because of one (1) drag performance that had happened on that admiral’s aircraft carrier,” Schneider wrote on Threads Friday. “Note to Pete Hegseth: the British military had drag shows *constantly* while they were at the same time conquering, like, the entire world. It was a standard form of entertainment.”
Related: No, Amy Schneider wasn’t a DEI winner on Jeopardy!
The admiral in question, Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, was set to be promoted vice admiral and commander of the Navy’s 7th Fleet. Donald Trump had nominated him for the post in June, and the Senate confirmed him. But Hegseth withdrew Donnelly’s nomination in July.
The Defense secretary did not give a reason, but “Donnelly came under fire from conservative influencers and media personalities because of drag show performances that occurred during his stint commanding the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier from 2016 to 2018,” USA Today reported at the time. There was some objection to drag performances on military sites even under the LGBTQ-supportive Biden administration.
Yeoman 1st Class Joshua Kelley, who performs under the drag name Harpy Daniels and had appeared on the carrier, had nothing but praise for Donnelly. “To clarify the record, I never was a part of a drag show, I was only one Queen who had a moment to shine for seven minutes to boost the morale of my shipmates just like they have throughout military history,” Kelley told Queerty.
Related: The Military Ignores Its History With Drag and Queer Vets
And by the way, the ultra-knowledgeable Schneider is right. In 2021, for instance, a picture from 1940 surfaced showing British soldiers who interrupted their rehearsal for a Christmas drag show to defend against an air attack by Nazi Germany. The soldiers were still in their drag costumes. Snopes.com and other sources confirmed the photo is legitimate.
“‘We interrupted our drag show to shoot at Nazis’ is a truly powerful energy I want to bring back,” one Twitter user wrote when sharing the photo.
Drag performances were popular in the U.S. military in World War II as well, as documented by the National WWII Museum. Initially, the rationale for male soldiers and sailors dressing as women for morale-boosting shows was that there weren’t enough women in the military to fill the roles. Eventually, more women signed up, but while those in the Navy were allowed to perform for male troops, women in the Army weren’t. And drag had become widely accepted.
Military men in drag also appeared on Broadway and in film. Irving Berlin’s WWII show This Is the Army, with a cast of soldiers, included drag, and it was made into a film in which future Republican President Reagan introduced a drag performance, although he didn’t appear in drag himself. The hit Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific included a number called “Honey Bun,” with a male sailor dressing in a grass skirt and a bra top made of coconut shells and a female nurse in male drag, an oversized sailor’s uniform. So yes, there has been drag in the military, in real life and on stage and screen, for many years.
Related: 7 anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans caught dressing in drag
And it’s hard to question Schneider’s knowledge. She won 40 consecutive games on Jeopardy! in 2021-2022 and went on to win that season’s Tournament of Champions, for a total of $1,682,800 in winnings. She is the top woman contestant in terms of both regular-season and overall winnings, and she is the first out transgender contestant to qualify for the Tournament of Champions. Her 40-game streak puts her behind only Ken Jennings, now the Jeopardy! host, who won 74 consecutive games in 2004.
This article originally appeared on Advocate: ‘Jeopardy!’ champ Amy Schneider schools Pete Hegseth on drag in the military
