The surprising response controversial Australian drag queen Reuben Kaye received when he asked a British boy about men wearing make-up has resurfaced on social media.
A video clip of the exchange between Kaye and an unnamed schoolboy has been viewed almost 900,000 times.
“Why do you have makeup and lipstick and glitter on,” the boy asks Kaye.
Kaye responds, saying, “Because it looks nice.”
The boy looks surprised, before Kaye asks him, “Don’t you like it?” The boy then shakes his head.
“What do you think about men wearing makeup?” Kaye asks the boy.
“You can’t put it in boys,” the boy replies firmly.
Australian drag artist Reuben Kaye got a surprising response from a British schoolboy to a question about men wearing makeup
‘Who said?’ Kaye asks.
“The penguin over there,” the boy says, pointing to a large cardboard cutout cartoon penguin behind Kaye’s shoulder.
‘The penguin?’ says a bewildered Kaye as he looks around.
‘The penguin believes in binary gender roles. I love it,” he responded to the boy.
Binary gender roles prescribe specific behavior based on perceived male or female identity.
Kaye visited the school in 2019 to make a short YouTube video for the UK’s Channel 4, where he spoke to some children while in drag costume and gauged their reaction.
One of the kids in the video told him his “eyelashes were a little too long,” as he burst out laughing.
He then asks another set of kids, “Do you think I look normal?” , where one person says no, while the other says ‘you’re somewhat normal.’
However, not every child was critical of the way Kaye dressed, with one asking if he went to school dressed in drag.
‘Yes, and school was not a fun time for me. “I was a young gay kid and I liked to dress up, and I liked to sing and dance, and I didn’t like sports.”
A second child tells him: ‘At least you had the courage to do things that other people cannot do.
A third added: ‘I think everyone should be who they want to be and not have people tell them what to do.’
Channel 4’s British Schoolboy YouTube is far from impressed with Kaye’s outfit and make-up
Kaye became the center of a storm of controversy when a lewd joke he made about Jesus was broadcast on Channel 10’s The Project in February.
Presenters Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris were forced to grovel apologizing after he joked about Jesus: “I love any man who can get nailed for three days in a row and come back for more.”
Appearing as a panelist on ABC’s Q+A show in June, Kaye defended the joke, saying it only offended people because he was gay.
“That joke was told by straight people,” Kaye said.
‘Ricky Gervais devotes almost 90 percent of his routine to tearing down religion, Dave Chappelle does it.
“Big, big name, straight comics do this all the time. This isn’t about the joke, it’s about who told it.’