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Kari Lake pushes back at drag queen with demand to 'cease and desist' [1]
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Date: 2022-06-28
Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake — and her campaign lawyer — are trying to silence a drag queen whose social media posts labeling Lake a hypocrite have gone viral.
Richard Stevens, who performs as Barbra Seville and is one of the Phoenix area's best-known drag queens, received the "cease and desist" letter while headed on stage at a family friendly drag brunch on Saturday.
The three-page letter demands that Stevens stop making certain claims about Lake, whom he once considered a friend, and delete a June 17 post that has turned into a national news story.
It also confirms that, about eight years ago, Lake and her family attended a party where Stevens showed up dressed as Marilyn Monroe. Lake's campaign has said Stevens was an "impersonator," drawing a distinction between that and a drag show.
Stevens said he performed at the event. Neither side has denied Lake's young daughter was there, as Stevens said.
Stevens' lawyer, Tom Ryan of Chandler, responded on Monday affirming Stevens would not cease nor desist.
"I cannot imagine your client will be happy to revisit all the time she spent with Barbra Seville when I depose Ms. Lake," Ryan wrote. Ryan is known locally for his colorful letters on behalf of clients who are public figures or being attacked by them.
"Now Kari is a bully, and the reservoir of good will she had built up over the years as a cherished news anchor, well, that's been drained to the point where we might as well just refer to her now as Kari Puddles," his letter reads.
Lake, the former Fox 10 nightly news anchor who invokes fears of big-tech or media censorship often during her campaign for governor, has now at least twice demanded that people stop criticizing her in cease and desist letters. The letters can be precursors to formal legal action.
A spokesman for Lake did not provide comment for this story but did say a reporter's question — whether Lake would use state resources to push back on critics if she's elected governor — was "ridiculous."
'She's thrown away my friendship':Drag queen calls out Kari Lake for hypocrisy
Six months before the letter to Stevens, Lake and her attorney Tim La Sota sent a similar letter to Republican consultant Brian Murray, who was working for a political action committee backing Lake’s opponent, the former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon.
Lake demanded Murray retract a tweet about Lake that used the word "bipolar;" Lake took it as an allegation about her mental health, Murray and Ryan maintained it had nothing to do with a medical diagnosis. Murray heard no more from the Lake campaign after receiving the letter.
And he hasn’t deleted the tweet.
La Sota's letter to Stevens acknowledges Lake is a public figure — meaning she's subject to a higher legal standard than most Arizonans when it comes to proving defamation claims. The letter argues Stevens made claims knowing they were false.
The Lake campaign specifically objects to Stevens' statements that Lake took her minor daughter to a "drag show," that Lake invited Stevens to her home to perform a drag show and that Lake "has been kicked out of bars for being too intoxicated."
Stevens' now-viral post about Lake labeled Lake a hypocrite for targeting the gay community and drag performers. Stevens said he spoke up after Lake said on social media "they kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens. They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow."
In response, Stevens shared several pictures of Lake, including Lake with drag queens and in drag herself dressed as Elvis. Lake tried to distance herself from the controversy, including in a Monday interview on Fox News, when she said the issue was about "taxpayer funded drag shows" and resorted to attacking the interviewer.
Lake did not name a specific school nor district. State lawmakers took issue earlier this year, and considered legislation, after a Tucson high school club planned to hold a drag show. But lawmakers ended the session early Saturday without advancing a bill to prohibit minors from attending drag shows.
"This is absolutely ludicrous," Lake told Fox News host Brett Baier, who had asked about Stevens' claims. "I'm talking about drag shows in schools, this is what triggered this man. ... I'm really appalled that you would spend time on a false story like that. It's shocking."
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at
[email protected] or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
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[1] Url:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2022/06/28/kari-lake-pushes-back-drag-queen-cease-and-desist-letter/7748750001/
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