Pensacola’s Historic Saenger Theatre Set to Host Drag Show Mocking Christ 2 Days Before Christmas

Pensacola, Florida’s city-owned Saenger Theatre has decided to host a drag show mocking Christ’s birth two days before Christmas. 

The timing of this affront at one of the highest, holiest times of year for Christians—at one of the city’s premiere venues—is no mistake considering that the production company’s other shows include blasphemous offerings such as “Pray the Gay Away.” The trailer for that show begins with a man in drag, holding a Bible draped with a rosary. It quickly goes downhill from there. 

Prior iterations of “A Drag Queen Christmas,” the show the Saenger Theatre will host on Dec. 23, 2025, have been referred to as part of the “Naughty Tour” where participants have promised to put the “Ho Ho Ho Into the Holidays.” 

Past productions have included participants with bawdy stage names such as Trinity “the Tuck” Taylor (For those unfamiliar—and I hope most are—that’s an allusion to anatomical manipulations performers must make to fit into their more “feminine” costumes). 

Other featured performers have at various times embraced demonic imagery and dressing up as the devil. One performer named Bosco is the “self-proclaimed ‘demon queen of Seattle’” who seeks to evoke a “demon-inspired, kink-positive” look. This Demon Queen Magic asks if you have “ever seen a demon queen slay the runway?” 

Another dresses up as a “Demonic Betty Boop,” while yet another, Crystal Methyd, dresses up as the devil and seeks to “make … [such imagery] glamorous and beautiful.”   

Then, of course, there’s Jewels Sparkles who reposted on X a glammed-up-girl-like cartoon character joyfully exclaiming “f— Israel” (with the profanity, of course, not censored). Three days later, in all caps, Sparkles posted “F— ICE.”  

So rather than hosting wholesome entertainment suitable for all ages, the City of Pensacola has instead decided to host “A Drag Queen Christmas” at the Saenger Theatre on Palafox Street during the height of Christmas activities in downtown Pensacola. 

Worst still, anyone familiar with downtown Pensacola and the Saenger Theatre’s location understands that it’s smack dab in the middle of Pensacola’s Winterfest celebrations, which include nightly activities, tours, and photo opportunities targeted at families with young children. 

Can the city guarantee that those children seeking family-oriented fun won’t be exposed to some aspects of this problematic performance? Doubtful. 

Moreover, very real questions must be asked about why Pensacola thinks it’s appropriate to spend taxpayer money supporting this performance. After all, each year the city allocates at least a quarter-of-a-million dollars to support the Saenger.   

It’s no answer to try to deceptively hide behind the First Amendment. The Saenger Theatre isn’t a public forum. It’s not open to all who want to present there. The city is clear: It exercises some level of control over who performs there and who doesn’t.   

It’s even hired ASM Global, a national company with “Corporate Social Responsibility” policies that may themselves violate certain federal and state nondiscrimination laws, to help with this screening and selection process. 

When the Saenger Theatre first opened its doors a little more than 100 years ago in April 1925, it showed Cecil B. DeMille’s black-and-white version of “The Ten Commandments.” This year, it will close out its centennial celebrations with the blasphemous “A Drag Queen Christmas.” 

What a change a single century can bring.   

Just as in “The Ten Commandments,” one here can only hope for miracle—that the City of Pensacola and the Saenger Theatre will come to their senses and cancel this atrocity.