BBC slammed over Strictly drag queen contestant

Children should not be exposed to sexualised content through the presence of a drag queen on Strictly, the BBC has been warned.

The Family Education Trust (FET) said that it was ‘irresponsible’ of the broadcaster to include controversial adult entertainer La Voix in Strictly Come Dancing’s 2025 line-up.

Last year, CBeebies was criticised for celebrating US ‘drag queen prostitutes’ as “inspirational mums”.

‘Unsuitable and harmful’

Announcing the news, the BBC’s Media Centre praised La Voix, the stage name of Christopher Dennis, as a “powerhouse of charisma, comedy, and cabaret” and consistently referred to the performer using female pronouns. The contestant is expected to be paired with a male professional dancer.

FET responded: “Drag is not family entertainment. It never has been, and it never will be. It comes from an adult world of sexualised caricatures, provocative performances and exaggerated depictions of women.

“However much it is dressed up for television, its roots remain the same. This is unsuitable and harmful content that children should never be exposed to in any context.”

It added: “The BBC is funded by compulsory license fees, paid by the very families it is now betraying. Rather than protecting the youngest viewers, it is dragging them into a world of adult themes they cannot understand.”

Public purse

Earlier this year, following the intervention of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman MP on behalf of concerned parents, a Hampshire school cancelled a drag act organised to celebrate ‘Pride’.

The Conservative MP explained: “Pretending to children that a man can be a woman if they put on some makeup and wear a dress is wrong”.

She also said that “it is not appropriate” for the school to be “facilitating a sexualised, demeaning and offensive form of adult entertainment on its premises” at the taxpayers’ expense.