Culture

14-year-old drag queen banned from school talent show to perform with Drag Race stars

By Daniel Megarry

24th July 2018

We love a happy ending!

Last week, it was reported that 14-year-old Lewis Bailey, a pupil at Castle Academy in Dudley, was banned from entering his school talent show as drag alter-ego Athena Heart, as the school claimed it was “not appropriate” for children to do drag.

Lewis, who had prepared a lip sync performance to songs by RuPaul and Ariana Grande for the talent show, said: “I’m heartbroken and confused. After all the effort I have put into it, it has knocked my confidence a lot.”

But while he wasn’t allowed to appear at his school talent show, Lewis has been offered the chance of a lifetime as he’ll now perform his sure-to-be-sickening routine at DragWorld UK, Europe’s largest drag convention, in August.

He’ll be appearing alongside some of the biggest stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race – a TV show which Lewis says is a major inspiration for his drag act – including Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, Bebe Zahara Benet and Courtney Act at the event.

“I’m very excited about my DragWorld invite to perform and get my name out there so others just like me know that it’s ok to be different,” said Lewis.

The young drag queen will appear as the event’s guest of honour on Sunday 19 August, where he will finally get to perform his lip sync routine – and for a larger crowd than he ever could have imagined.

“We are so excited to have Lewis and his family at our event,” said Nathan Stone, Creative Director of MJR Group.

“It is an absolute honour to showcase the great young talent. We don’t believe anyone should be told they can’t be who they want to be.”

And that’s not the only Drag Race event Lewis will be appearing at, as it’s now been announced that his alter-ego Athena Heart will be “slaying the stage” at the 10s Across The Board tour in Birmingham on 8 August.

The tour features five of the queens from the most recent season of Drag Race, including winner Aquaria, finalists Kameron Michaels and Asia O’Hara, and fan favourites Miz Cracker and Yuhua Hamasaki.

We’re sure Athena/Lewis will be right at home among such drag royalty.