CNN
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Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos has vehemently denied claims he ever played drag queen.
“The media’s recent obsession with claiming I’m a drag queen or ‘acting’ as a drag queen is absolutely false,” said the New York congressman tweet thursday She claimed to be Santos after a Brazilian drag performer posted a photo of her with another person in drag.
“While I’m trying to get results, the media continues to make outrageous claims about my life. I’m not going to be distracted or worried about it,” the tweet continued.
Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd District, has come under scrutiny over the past month for lying and misrepresenting his education, work and family history, including falsely claiming he is Jewish and descended from Holocaust survivors. He also faces federal and local investigations into his campaign finances. Santos admitted to “beautifying” his resume but insisted he was “not a criminal”.
The congressman — an out gay man — was identified by a longtime local performer who said Santos’ name was Kitara Ravache. On Jan. 12, performer Eula Rochards posted a photo of herself and another cross-dresser, who she claimed was Santos, at a march in the Rio de Janeiro area.
In this photo from a 2008 newspaper clipping, Rochatz referred to Santos as Kitara Revache.
In addition to the clippings, Rochatz also provided CNN with another, clearer photo that she claims is of Santos.
CNN has not independently verified these images.
In an interview with CNN, Rochaz said the Santos in the photo was Santos, adding that she knew him from an LGBTQ event he attended in the town of Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, where she said Santos The gay community is famous.
Rochatz said she recognized Santos from recent news reports and dug up old photos, but was surprised to learn that Santos was a Republican.
“I don’t know him now, I knew him then,” she said.
“but if [Jair] Bolsonaro can win here, why can’t Santos win there? she added, referring to the former Brazilian president.
Rochatz said she hopes Santos will acknowledge this part of his past.
“It’s an amazing job [to be a drag queen]. He cannot discriminate against what he does himself, and if he does, he discriminates against me,” she said.
Santos did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. He told NBC News in a previous interview that he had “never experienced discrimination within the Republican Party.”
Santos has in the past expressed support for policies seen as discriminatory against LGBTQ individuals. In April 2022, he posted a video on Facebook expressing support for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ legislation in Florida that would ban certain teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms. In the video, he accuses Democrats of “wanting to raise our children” — a homophobic term that invokes the idea that LGBTQ people corrupt children.
