Mom Goes On “Undercover” Mission With Daughters To Drag Brunch In Viral TikTok

Across the country, right wing pundits and conservative lawmakers have taken aim at drag events. Like Republican Oklahoma Sen. Nathan Dahm, who wants to make drag queen story hours illegal in an effort to, as he put it, “protect children.” Or the state of Tennessee, which recently passed a law banning public drag performances while lawmakers in at least eight other states have introduced measures to keep children from being allowed to such events. With Republicans’ so-called concerns in mind, one determined mom decided to go “undercover” at a drag brunch with her two daughters to see just how traumatic these events really are. And spoiler alert: They loved every minute of it and even danced to “Baby Shark.”

Tianna Bastien recently shared a video on TikTok of her “undercover” work at a local drag brunch with a friend and her two daughters. “With all the controversy surrounding children and drag queens these days, I thought I would go undercover and take our girls to a drag show, and see what kind of horrible trauma they endure,” Bastien, who lives in Canada, drily explained in a voiceover, alluding to outcry from Republicans like Arizona Sen. Justine Wadsack, who has called for drag performers to receive prison time.

So what did Bastien and her 5- and 7-year-old daughters experience at the drag brunch? Sparkles and so much fun. The girls were even brought up to perform with the drag queens, who covered them in sparkles and hugged them both. “How dare they put sparkles on the girls, making them feel all sparkly?” Bastien said in the video. The girls can also be seen dancing to “Baby Shark” and jumping up and down with the performers. “They’ll never get over this, they’ll carry the trauma of this with them for their entire lives.”

Her final verdict? “You can tell they hated it so we’ll definitely try church next Sunday,” she said as both of her daughters are seen grinning from ear to ear.

In reality, this mom of two started out simply documenting a fun day out when she decided to change tactics. “I didn’t set out to capture the videos for the voiceover that I ended up using,” Bastien tells Romper. “I was just capturing the awesome, wholesome moments the girls were experiencing. But after seeing all that, in light of all the negative media these days surrounding the drag community I wanted to highlight the wonderful time the girls had while also showing how ridiculous all the haters sound.” Ridiculous things like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis considering child endangerment charges for people who bring children to drag shows.

As for her daughters, they did indeed love the show. “As far as the girls were concerned, the queens were gorgeous princesses,” Bastien says, adding that they only had questions about “how they did such beautiful hair and makeup and when they can go again!”

Many folks on TikTok praised the video for calling out negative misconceptions about drag queens. “Thank you so much for this! My first born is a drag queen!” one person commented, while another said, “As a Drag Queen myself, I approve this message.”

Ultimately, Bastien’s TikTok simply highlights that drag brunches are a perfect way to spend a Sunday, with or without sparkles.