Drag queen’s viral Erika Kirk performance raises funds for civil rights organisation ACLU
Drag performer Lauren Banall is using her impersonation of Erika Kirk to raise funds for the ACLU. (TikTok/@LaurenBanall/Getty)
Drag performer Lauren Banall is using her impersonation of Erika Kirk to raise funds for the ACLU. (TikTok/@LaurenBanall/Getty)
LA-based drag queen Lauren Banall has gone viral with performances cosplaying as Erika Kirk, and is now using her virality to fundraise for US civil rights charity the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
In two TikTok videos shared over the weekend, Lauren Banall appears dressed in a red blazer and black trousers, with a long blonde wig pulled back and pinned up. She is donning eye-bulging blue contact lenses.
In the first clip, the drag performer lip-syncs to audio of Erika Kirk reciting a bible verse at the memorial service for her husband, right-wing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University last September.
The bible verse, lifted from Luke 23:34, references forgiving a perpetrator “for they not know what they do”.
Lauren Banall’s lip-sync mash-up then continues with Cascada’s 2009 hit, “Evacuate The Dancefloor”.
A second clip sees the drag performer lip-sync to audio from Erika Kirk’s December interview with CBS News journalist Bari Weiss, in which she urged for US commentator Candace Owens to “stop” peddling conspiracy theories about her husband’s death.
Both clips have since gone viral, and at the time of writing have a combined viewership of more than six million.
In a third video, Lauren Banall introduced herself in Erika Kirk drag as “Erika Qwerk” and urged her newfound followers to donate to her GoFundMe page, which is raising money to support the ACLU.
The ACLU campaigns for the rights of marginalised and persecuted minorities, including the transgender and wider LGBTQ+ community and immigrants. The ACLU Drag Defence Fund, which is promoted at the end of each episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, works to protect drag performers and the LGBTQ+ community from censorship and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
“Thank you so much for all of this incredible response to my Erika Kirk number. It’s truly overwhelming,” Lauren Banall said.
“I’ve been thinking, what is something good we can do with this? What could Turning Point USA do? Monetise,” she continued.
She urged her followers to donate to her GoFundMe page to “fight [Donald Trump’s] administration in the courts and win”.
“We’ve re-ignited our Fund Rager page benefitting the ACLU so we can block the b******* this next administration is doing in the courts,” the drag performer’s GoFundMe page reads. “No kings, no grifters, no ICE!”
Right-wing activist Charlie Kirk was known for his contentious views on gun control and the trans community, and was discussing the debunked conservative conspiracy around trans shooters in the moments leading up to his death.
In recent weeks, Erika Kirk has made numerous press and event appearances, most notably on stage at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in December where she interviewed rapper-turned-Trump-advocate, Nicki Minaj.
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