Melissa McCarthy wades in to drag shows debate with post showing Mrs Doubtfire and Tootsie

Melissa McCarthy stood up for drag queens on Monday when she took to Instagram and shared a message of support.

The Bridesmaids star, 52, soon to be seen as Ursula in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, posted a collage of iconic drag characters surrounding a central statement.

“You’ve been entertained by drag queens your whole life,” McCarthy’s message read. Don’t pretend it’s a problem now.

The collage included legendary drag stars like Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, and Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies.

Melissa’s supportive post comes amid a wave of anti-drag legislation sweeping the US, Tennessee passed a bill last week restricting ‘adult cabaret performances’ in public o in the presence of children.

Showing your support: Melissa McCarthy, 52, stood up for drag queens on Monday when she took to Instagram and shared a message of support.

Across the country, activists and conservative politicians complain that drag contributes to the ‘sexualization’ or ‘grooming’ of children. Several states are considering restrictions, but none have acted as quickly as Tennessee.

Thousands of reactions poured into McCarthy’s comments section, with many drag queens thanking the star for his support.

BenDeLaCreme wrote: ‘THANK YOU. It has been disheartening to see how few allies are calling attention to what is happening.”

The RuPaul’s Drag Race star added: “These drag bans are just the tip of the iceberg. A way of slowly desensitizing the American public to increasingly anti-queer rhetoric.

“I look forward to continuing to see celebrities and public figures speak out as more and more LGBTQ+ lives are put on the line.”

Another RuPaul’s Drag Race star, Pandora Boxx, seconded BenDeLaCreme’s post by writing: ‘Thank you! The drag queens are not the problem.

speaking to Rolling Stone In 2014, McCarthy opened up about the “confidence” she received from the drag community as a young comedian pretending to be a drag queen in New York City.

Describing her own hype drag queen, Miss Y, the A-lister said: “I was there with my lovely gay friends and I was dressed like a big old drag queen.”

I went for Miss Y. She had on a gold lamé coat, huge wig, big eyelashes. I talked about being incredibly rich and beautiful and living extravagantly, and the first night it worked really well. It was such a happy and good feeling, and it gave me so much confidence.’

A drag queen reads a book to children at the publicly funded San Lorenzo Library.

Thousands of reactions poured into McCarthy’s comments section, with many drag queens thanking the star for his support. RuPaul’s Drag Race star BenDeLaCreme wrote a powerful statement

Another RuPaul’s Drag Race star, Pandora Boxx, seconded BenDeLaCreme’s message.

Confident queen: Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2017, McCarthy opened up about the ‘confidence’ she received from the drag community as a young comedienne in New York City (pictured at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards)

McCarthy’s best friend, shoe designer Brian Atwood, recalled Rolling Stone about how Melissa would dress up as Miss Y and attend the seminal Wigstock drag festival.

“It was the days of Lady Miss Kier, RuPaul and Lady Bunny, and Miss Y was Missy’s big alter ego,” Atwood told Rolling Stone. ‘When we went to Wigstock in Tompkins Square Park, Miss Y was in her prime there. Full on. That was her time. It was hilarious.’

Melissa also opened up about her affinity for the superhuman confidence that drag queens exude and how they “just don’t care.”

“I really like to see the bolder ones being overconfident with nothing to back them up,” he said. ‘It’s someone who is somehow not convinced of everything we should and shouldn’t. They don’t give as**t. I have a real obsession with people who just don’t care.

Some Republicans and conservative activists have complained in recent months that drag contributes to the ‘sexualization’ or ‘grooming’ of children.

In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a law limiting where drag performances can take place by banning “adult cabaret entertainment” that is “harmful to minors” on public property or places where children may see the performance.

The bill does not explicitly include the words ‘drag show’, but expands the definition of adult cabaret to include ‘male or female impersonators’, as well as topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers and strippers.

Meanwhile, the Arkansas House of Representatives last month voted in favor of “adult-oriented” performances, revamping a measure that previously targeted drag shows following discrimination complaints from the LGBTQ community.

Meanwhile, the Arkansas House voted last month in favor of “adult-oriented” performances. Ultimately, the bill will eliminate drag storytime performances, in which drag queens read to students for free at public libraries. The events have become part of the heated cultures in the US over discussions of gender and children.

The bill passed the largely Republican House of Representatives by a vote of 78-15 no longer explicitly adds drag shows to the list of businesses considered “adult-oriented,” alleviating some of the concerns of LGBTQ advocates and other opponents. The bill now returns to the Republican-majority Senate, which passed an earlier version of the restriction.

“This bill is not about whether drag is acceptable,” Republican Rep. Mary Bentley, a sponsor of the bill, told House members before the vote. “It’s about whether we should be exposing our children to sexually explicit behavior.”

Arkansas is one of several states where Republican lawmakers have proposed restrictions on drag shows, which have been targeted by activists and right-wing politicians in recent months.

Protesters have turned up at events like drag story hours, where colorfully dressed drag queens read books to children. Opponents of such events have claimed that they are harmful to children.

Under the current version of the Arkansas bill, restricted performances would include performers who are nude or semi-nude, and who knowingly expose a specific anatomical area, prosthetic breasts, or genitalia.

To meet the definition, the performance must feature actual or simulated sexual activity and be intended to appeal to “prawdy” interests, a term that is not defined in the law.