Kari Lake gets in hilarious public spat with the 'Queen of Phoenix drag queens': report

Republican culture wars have landed one Trump-endorsed candidate for governor in a public argument with a drag queen.

It started with a tweet from Kari Lake, the former newscaster running as 2020 election denying campaign in Arizona," Lake tweeted. "They kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens. They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow."

On Saturday morning, KPNX-TV political reporter Brahm Resnik noticed a Facebook post in response.

"The Queen of Phoenix drag queens, Barbara Seville, spills the tea all over old friend & Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona governor," Resnik reported.

Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republicwrote, "Rick Stevens is one of the Valley's best known drag artists, performing for the last 25 years as Barbra Seville at theaters, bars and parties around town."

The drag artist blasted her former friend on Facebook.

"Now that [Lake] has waded in to the war on drag queens, know she is a complete hypocrite," the performer charged.

"I've performed for Kari's birthday, I've performed in her home (with children present,) and I've performed for her at some of the seediest bars in Phoenix. She's come to my parties and has been asked to leave because door people thought she was too intoxicated to remain on premises," the performer continued. "Kari was a friend of mine, and I stood by her when she turned to the right. I reached out (and she responded repeatedly) when she took a public drubbing."

The performer included photos of Lake posing with her while she was in drag and Lake in drag as Elvis.

"These photos are free for anyone to republish or reuse," they wrote. "I'd like to apologize for the photo in skull make up. It was 2012 and I had no idea this was appropriation..I'm sorry if I let you down."

Resnik reported the Lake campaign responded.

"Richard's accusations were full of lies. The event in question was a party at someone else's house, and the performer was there as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. It wasn't a drag show, and the issue we're talking about isn't adults attending drag shows, either. The issue is activists sexualizing young children, and that's got to stop," the statement read.

The performer responded, Resnik reported.

"I was the 'Marilyn.' And her daughter was there," they said.

Resnik also noted a post for Lake's Instagram

"Half of what I learned about makeup I learned from watching friends like Barbra Seville," she wrote, including a picture hugging the drag queen.

"I was sort of her go-to gay person sometimes," the performer told Roberts of the former reporter.

“She supported Obama and now I’m here to tell you that she supported drag queens and had her kid in front of drag kids,” they said “So if I can do anything to expose the hypocrisy and if I can do anything to keep someone like that, a few votes away, from power, I’m happy to do that.”

In her story, Roberts included a different Instagram picture of Lake posing with drag queens.