Sab Samuel, who runs Drag Queen Story Hour UK, helped raise funds for the funeral of his friend, Darren Moore, a drag queen who was found dead in January. Moore, also known as Crystal Couture, was convicted of raping a boy under 14 and violating his lifetime ban on working with children by working as a gymnastics and dance teacher. He was also sentenced to a three-year sex offender’s treatment program, a 24-month supervision order, 300 hours of community service, and a six-month curfew with an electronic tag. Despite this, he was able to reinvent himself as a drag queen and was hired by British Airways to represent the airline at a Pride festival.
Samuel, who also performs as a drag queen under the name Aida H Dee, wrote online asking for donations to give his friend “the goodbye he deserves.” However, Samuel has faced criticism for raising money for the funeral of someone with Moore’s criminal history.
In addition to his involvement in fundraising for Moore’s funeral, Samuel also attended a school in Wales as his drag alter ego to speak to 11 and 12 year olds about homosexuality.
Samuel has in the past posted on social media about “orgies” and said that “love has no age”; campaigners labelled his invitation to the school a “spectacular safeguarding fail”.
The shadow education minister for Wales, Laura Anne Jones MS, told The Telegraph that “it’s extremely concerning that this is happening in schools in Wales” and “highly inappropriate for him to be in this kind of environment”. She said: “The first question to ask is why is it necessary to have a drag queen in a school environment? There are far better and more appropriate role models out there. Our children deserve far better than to have a known highly sexualised and biased individual coming in to indoctrinate them and talk about delicate subjects, such as suicide and sexuality.”
His organization, Drag Queen Story Hour UK, has hosted over 280 events in the past year, but has faced protests from individuals who believe that such events promote the grooming of children.
Last month, a school in the Isle of Man suspended its sex education curriculum after a drag queen guest allegedly told students there were 73 genders, and a child who argued there were “only two” was asked to leave the classroom.
In Tennessee, the first state to ban drag shows in public, the controversial events have been the subject of debate and discussion.
Samuel did not respond to a request for comment.