Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Says 10 Words at Drag Show, Crowd Loses It

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave a surprise appearance at a drag show at the McKittrick Hotel in New York City this past Friday night.

Ocasio-Cortez was there for Bartschland Follies, a drag and burlesque show produced by NYC legend Susanne Bartsch that features many LGBTQ performers — including drag queens, drag kings and burlesque dancers.

But she was quickly pulled up on stage by drag and cabaret performer Joey Arias and celebrated by the crowd.

She had only a few simple words for the crowd, but they all lost it.

“You are beautiful. You are accepted,” Ocasio-Cortez said before asking the audience to give a “big round of applause” for the performer.

“Alexandria O.Cortez and myself at BARTSCHLAND FOLLIES! I was gagging! She’s Amazing! The place went wild! Chanting her name!” Arias wrote on Instagram in a post with a video.

Drag king Murray Hill also got a photo with Ocasio-Cortez.

“In this pix, I’m saying, ‘I’m standing next to a future president!’” he wrote.

“None of us in the cast were feeling too patriotic this July 4th weekend, but her presence alone gave us all a much-needed dose of hope,” Murray Hill told NBC News. “She reignited the fire that’s burning in all of us. She stayed and watched the entire show starring New York’s finest misfits, nightlife creatures, rabble-rousers, queer icons. She then got on stage and said, ‘Be who you are. You are beautiful. You are accepted.’ Mic drop.”

Ocasio-Cortez has a longstanding love of drag. In January 2018, she took to Twitter to share her jealousy that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was to be a guest judge on an upcoming episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars” season 3.

“I’ve been a huge fan for years. If enough NYC-area supporters are down, I’ll host an Ocasio2018 watch party for AS3,” she tweeted.

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