Texas university president cancels drag show, comparing art form to blackface

The president of a public university in Texas canceled a student-run drag show on Monday, arguing that the art form is offensive to women and comparing it to blackface.

“Drag shows stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood,” West Texas A&M University President Walter Wendler said in an email to students, faculty and staff. “Drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny, not matter the stated intent.”

In the email, which was obtained by NBC News, Wendler also states that he similarly “would not support ‘blackface’ performances on our campus, even if told the performance is a form of free speech or intended as humor. It is wrong.”

A representative for the university declined to comment, citing “pending litigation.”

The event, which was scheduled for later this month, was intended to raise money for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization. In his letter, Wendler urged students to “skip the show” but to still donate to the nonprofit group.

In response to the letter, dozens of students held a protest on the university’s campus Tuesday. Some protesters were flanked with rainbow-colored posters that said “Don’t drag us down” and “Women who love drag.”

West Texas A&M University “is real big on supporting the LGBTQ community,” student Jasrianna Gonzalez told NBC affiliate KAMR of Amarillo. “So, I feel like with President Wendler taking down the show, it kind of hurt some students and contradicts what [the university] is doing,” they said.

A student-led Change.org petition criticizing Wendler’s letter and calling for him to reinstate the drag show had garnered over 6,500 signatures as of Wednesday morning.

“Not only is this a gross and abhorrent comparison of two completely different topics, but it is also an extremely distorted and incorrect definition of drag as a culture and form of performance art,” the petition said, referring to Wendler’s “blackface” analogy.