A Drag King, A Community Venue, ... A Pathway For Children Into Debauchery
This is more than 'just another' story about drag kings and queens, this is a call to action for parents and the community who see what's going on here.
A Collaboration with Katherine Chua, Auckland mum of 5
Te Tuhi the Mark (formerly Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Te Tuhi - The Mark, Te Tuhi Gallery and Pakuranga Arts Society, a public contemporary art gallery in Pakuranga, Auckland, NZ), is normally scrupulous about ensuring content is clearly signposted in their gallery.
However Te Tuhi appears to have failed to notify parents that the recent Hugo Grrl* Drag King event on 22 February 2025 is a brand led by an R18 stripper and adult entertainer.
*Note: Hugo Grrl’s current name is George Fowler. However, this person is a biological woman dressing as a man (hence Drag King, not Queen). Confused? That’s the goal. The ‘name change’ law results in erasing a person’s born name and sex, which becomes problematic if, for example, a person (not saying this one does as we have no evidence of this) wants to commit a crime and can then change their name and ‘gender’.
The Event Finda listing for this event states:
“Hugo Grrrl is a drag king, a doofus and an award-winning cabaret producer from Aotearoa New Zealand, creating joyful queer theater that’s bound to leave ya with a smile on your face and a bit of glitter in your hair. He co-created the world’s first drag musical for kids, The Glitter Garden - a multi-award winning smash. He won Season 1 of House of Drag (NZ’s Drag Race), making him the first drag king and transgender man globally to ever compete in or win a drag reality show. By day, he works as a gender diversity educator, working passionately to increase rainbow literacy and acceptance in Aotearoa. Hugo’s Rainbow Show is his first solo children’s show.” (emphasis ours).
People who choose these careers should not have the ‘right’ to entertain children
For several years, adult entertainer Hugo Grrl has built a brand around strip tease, sexual innuendo, bondage sado-masochism, nudity, normalisation of prostitution and sexual objectification. Also featured on Hugo's online pages is extreme body modification and using medication to attempt to change sex.
Quotes from Hugo's public Facebook page include,
"Sorry mum, I'm a male stripper now...hosting Men of Steel with the best man whores in the business" - 8 July 2023
"Have a little crotch shot. As a treat." - 29 October 2023
As recently as this year, Hugo wrote: "Wow, I love being a hot trans slut." - 4 February 2025
Even if the event material is not R18, is this person suitable to entertain ‘all ages’?
Regardless of whether "Hugo's Rainbow Show" event had zero material that the event organisers or host (or audience) deemed ‘inappropriate’, the recent Te Tuhi event presented Hugo Grrl as a "child-friendly" entertainer to over 71 adults and children.
Councillors Angela Dalton and Damian Light promoted and endorsed this event on their social media pages.
A review of the promotional websites showed that no disclosure was given to guardians or attendees regarding the sexual nature of the Hugo Grrl brand. Neither Hugo Grrl, nor the Te Tuhi Centre policies ensured that parents would be informed.
A caution for adult entertainers who are entertaining children
The Crimes Act 1961, Section 131AB ‘Grooming for sexual conduct with a young person’ may perhaps apply here. If you’re a lawyer who can help clarify, please get in touch with us.
Because the entertainer looks pretty good at promoting themselves. They would absolutely know that being in front of young people, who have curious minds and access to the internet, may have their curiosity piqued. And where does one go when one’s curiosity is piqued? Online.
Search for Hugo yourself
Search ‘Hugo Grrl’ and see what you find. Do you think kids should have access to this material? Do you think having people like ‘Hugo’ entertaining kids and saying it’s ‘diverse and inclusive’ is really that, at all?
How social conditioning looks to the average punter
It’s important to know that this person and their drag compatriots are also on TVNZ. Which sends the message to the population of New Zealand this is ‘normal’. Doesn’t it?
Back to Te Tuhi. Was the lack of disclosure of Hugo’s career negligent, or intentional?
Either way, to omit such information until after the event, is deeply violating and potentially predatory intention towards parents and children who have until now viewed the Te Tuhi gallery as a safe space. The centre regularly hosts children, including a childcare centre, art and dance classes, and trips from local schools.
Some of these will likely also have legal obligation regarding child protection and inappropriate content.
To pretend that the Hugo Grrl brand is irrelevant simply because the Te Tuhi event content was ‘child appropriate’, is narrow-minded, disingenuous and wilfully ignorant. Just like organising a kids' teddy bear picnic at R18 venues such as Hush Hush or Showgirls, the brand, hosts and context all send a message that such an environment has the approval of a child's trusted adults.
Children are among the most vulnerable and powerless in society
They should not be used to validate adults' desires for acceptance or attention. Love of science, of art and drama, are all things that can and should be on offer to children without the risk of exposure to early sexualization.
What kind of community do you want to live in?
If we want to be a community where others respect our boundaries, we must first be people who can say NO to ourselves. We must be able to restrain ourselves when our desires might hurt others. This social value of sexual self control and restraint is an idea at total odds with the total worship of sexual activity that Hugo Grrl promotes.
Yet without self restraint and boundaries, our community will likely regress into the same sexual abuse of the weak - of women, children and the poor - that humanity already witnessed during the pre-Christian, ancient Greek and Roman times.
As adults, it is our responsibility to protect future generations, especially our girls and children, from living in a society where sexual objectification, prostitution, and violating boundaries is normal.
We ask parents, Te Tuhi, Councillors Damian Light and Angela Dalton, to reconsider promoting events with role models who glorify sexual objectification and prostitution to children.
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Concerned Father Vs School Board - Part 1 of 2
The Honourable Rodney Hide was a Member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1996 - 2011 and was the first President and leader of the Act Party. He also held the Epsom seat in Auckland from 2005-2011. Currently he is best-known as a radio host on Reality Check Radio
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