¶ Desmond Napoles
Aliases:
- Desmond Is Amazing
Internet Presence:
Desmond Napoles (born June of 2007)1 is an American child model, drag performer, and internet personality who goes by the stage name Desmond is Amazing. Napoles is nominally2 the clothing designer for Be Amazing NYC, a clothing line that "helps break down barriers and celebrates diversity."3 He is also the founder of the drag house Haus of Amazing, a self-proclaimed, "drag house exclusively for drag kids"5 which was established in 20174 when Napoles was 10 years old.
Napoles has been at the center of several controversies, including an investigation of his family by the NYC Administration for Children's Services and Child Protective Services. His other controversies include his performance at a 2015 NYC Pride Parade, in which the young boy was pictured with grown men in various states of undress; his appearance on a show hosted by two leaders of The Club Kids, a controversial group which ended with the murder of a prominent member; and his string of performances at gay bars, where he was photographed removing articles of clothing and collected dollar bills from a crowd of adult men.
Napoles would also appear on American talk show Good Morning America, where his behavior was encouraged by three adult drag performers also hosted by the show runners. His career has been strongly criticized for its association with pedophilia.6 Despite this, like most young boys of his age, Napoles enjoys collecting miniature trains, playing with Hot Wheels, drawing maps, playing video games, visiting parks and zoos, and building virtual roller coasters.
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¶ Career
Napoles' fascination with drag allegedly began at the age of two,7 when he was exposed to RuPaul's Drag Race by his mother. Various sources claim his first experience with cross-dressing began at six years old, but he himself states in an interview with Metro8, When I was two years old I used to take my mum’s heels, bed sheets, towels or even cardboard and put them on my body to make pretend dresses and on my head to make pretend wigs.
However, in a now-inaccessible interview with Gay Star News, Napoles claimed that the the first time he began "applying looks" to himself occurred at Two years old... I used to get mommy’s towels and everything and put them around my head and face, and then clomp in her big heels. Just clomp around the house, and it was fun.
Regardless of the exact date of Napoles' exposure to cross-dressing, his "career" in drag began in 2014 when he appeared in "The Bacon Shake", a sexually provocative music video from drag queen Jinkx Monsoon. In the video, Napoles is dressed in what is described by Liberty Nation News9 as, a wig and a 1920s red flapper dress,
surrounded by adults who appear in fewer and fewer clothes as the video progresses. The video is ostensibly sexual in nature, with provocative lyrics such as:
She's shakin' her bacon,
Come on boys, it's sizzlin',
She's shakin' her bacon,
And then shimmy 'til it fizzles,
Her bacon is shakin',
Come on, it's nice and hot,
Her bacon is shakin',
I'm serving it, ready or not!
Within the next year, Napoles would appear in the 2015 NYC Pride Parade, where the boy - escorted by his mother - would be extensively photographed surrounded by men and women clad in provocative clothing, bondage gear, or nothing at all. His appearance at the festival garnered fierce criticism from those concerned for the wellbeing of the child. In response, his mother Wendy Napoles would say, "If you are offended, don’t look," as well as, "He is old enough and smart enough to know he would be marching in the Pride parade in front of thousands of people..."10
Napoles' first drag show was in 2018, when he danced on a stage in front of grown men wearing a wig, a crop top, and makeup.9 Throughout the performance, Desmond can be seen collecting dollar bills and stripping off articles of clothing as he dances provocatively in front of a crowd of adult men. This was the first of a series of drag shows performed in several gay bars.15 These performances, among other things, would lead to Wendy Napoles' eventual investigation by Child Protective Services.
As recently as 2020, Napoles' mother (who is reported to manage her son's social media) has signed her son up for meetcandi.com, a website allowing for users to pay for 'celebrities' to create up to two-minute-long custom videos. Napoles' profile currently charges $20 for a two minute conversation with the boy. In an interview with Yahoo News,18 Napoles' mother says she spends the money generated by the boy's performances on "toys or whatever else he desires."
Napoles is also reportedly the creator of several business ventures, including:
- Be Amazing NYC, a "queer-owned and operated small business specializing in inclusive clothing and accessories"11
- Haus of Amazing, a drag house designed to facilitate the introduction of other children to drag which has also been described as a dating site for transsexual children16
- Be Amazing: A History of Pride, a book intended to teach children the "history of pride"
¶ Club Kids Association
The Club Kids was a group consisting largely of homosexual drug addicts that peaked in popularity in the 1990s. The group disbanded after its founder Michael Alig killed his drug dealer by caving in his skull with a hammer, smothering him, injecting a yet-unidentified chemical into his mouth, and applying duct tape to his face, before dismembering, dissolving, and throwing the body into a river.
...[Desmond is] the world's youngest club kid
Napoles has been tangentially associated with The Club Kids several times, beginning with an interview with Alig himself. During the interview, Alig referred to the child as the world's youngest Club Kid.
In the interview, Napoles was seated right between Alig and another former member of The Club Kids and directly beneath a painting depicting a young girl with the caption "Rohypnol," a powerful benzodiazepine and notorious date-rape drug.1 In an interview with Metro,8 Napoles cites The Club Kids as one of his inspirations.
In an interview with Vogue,13 Napoles describes the 90's as "crazy in a good way" when discussing The Club Kids.
¶ Drugs
In July of 2018, Napoles joined adult drag performer Bella Noche in a Facebook live stream. During this live stream, Bella references ketamine,17 a powerful dissociative drug which is often used recreationally. Upon hearing the word, Napoles pantomimed snorting the drug off the back of his hand.14 The child's immediate and apparently practiced reaction to the word has lead many to speculate that the child has been exposed to ketamine or other recreational drugs in some context.
¶ Legal Investigation
After Napoles' string of provocative performances for gay bars in NYC, hundreds of complaints were filed to NYC's Administration for Child Services by individuals concerned with the boy's exposure to alcohol and sexual behavior. In early 2019, an investigation was launched into the family. The investigation was ongoing for several months, even reaching New York governor Andrew Cuomo (who himself the subject of numerous sexual misconduct investigations), according to a Yahoo News18 interview with Desmond's mother. Shortly thereafter, the investigation ruled that the allegations were "Unfounded." Despite this, ACS's investigation is still ongoing.18
Many publications attempted to characterize the deluge of reports as an abuse of ACS's reporting system, with Wendy Napoles herself stating "The conservative media went on a bender, claiming that Desmond was stripping, dancing on a pole, moving in a sexual manner, seducing pedophiles, hanging out in a bar around alcohol, was half naked, and gyrating for money. He was coined the Bacha Bazi of Brooklyn."19 The general attitude among those who submitted reports appears to be concern for the child's wellbeing.
¶ Editorial
Desmond Napoles is a quintessential example of grooming in the homosexual/transsexual community. From the very beginning, it appears that Napoles' mother has been grooming him into his role as a child drag star. They both claim he was inspired to pursue drag when he watched RuPaul's Drag Race at the age of two. Even if we ignore the incredulous claim that Desmond has clear memories at the age of two20 (much less memories that serve as career inspiration), it is irresponsibility bordering on child abuse to expose a child that young to RuPaul's Drag Race, a show which is notoriously raunchy - not to mention confusing for a toddler (assuming he is even old enough to make sense of what he is seeing - which is unclear in Napoles' case).
Napoles' first performance is blatantly exploitative, but it also reeks of his mother's own fascination with early 1900s fashion. In an interview with a fashion class, Wendy says, I had gained most of my knowledge from studying old cosmetology books from the 1930s-1940s. Some of the concepts in these books seemed incredibly difficult to me. Many of the techniques shown have become obsolete. The Bombshell Hair class gave me the information I needed to better understand the concepts and techniques that I had difficulty with. It has definitely increased my proficiency in fashioning my hair.
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Napoles' mother also self-admittedly manages all of her son's social media. This is not a terrible move, given the boy's age, but it is hardly consistent with her habit of aiding and abetting the sexualization of her underage son. With this context in mind, Wendy's control over her son's social media looks less like the actions of a concerned parents and more like a calculated bid for control. What is devastating is that Desmond appears, for all intents and purposes, relatively normal for a boy his age when he's asked about his interests. Desmonds claims he enjoys Hot Wheels, trains, and (what I'm assuming is a reference to) Rollercoaster Tycoon. Unfortunately, his mother has manipulated, coerced, and bribed the young boy into exploitative ventures - herself admitting the money Desmond generates at her behest goes towards toys and "whatever else [Desmond] desires."18 It paints a very clear picture of coercion.
Even if Napoles and his mother's claims are accurate - from his inspiration to his ambitions - his mother is still complicit in the sexualization of her son. Even if he sincerely wanted to do the things he is notorious for, his mother has failed to prevent him from doing so. Any mother who allows her ten year old son to turn tricks at a gay bar is worthy of condemnation, if not prosecution.
It cannot be overstated that, for the most part, Desmond cannot be held responsible for his actions thus far. He is the victim of evil, exploitation, and lust from powerful adults. Even if Desmond is freed from direct manipulation by his mother, he will have to live with the bondage of abuse for the rest of his life. As he grows into a young man, it will be difficult to determine how much responsibility he bears for his actions, as his past will color his future. We can only hope the authorities intervene as soon as possible and prevent this poor boy from further abuse. Unless something is done soon, Desmond may have to wait until the next life for salvation.
¶ Citations
1 Meet The Drag Kid, Desmond Napoles: 20 Truths About The 11-Year-Old Queen
2 Desmond Napoles - My Fan Park
6 ‘Drag Kids’ Attract Pedophiles, Which Is No Surprise
8 Meet the 11-year-old ‘drag kid’ who is friends with RuPaul and struts for LGBT rights
9 HollyWeird: Why is a Child Drag Queen Being Celebrated?
10 Mom of 8-Year-Old Gay Pride Marcher Responds to Critics
12 Desmond Napoles - Speakerpedia
13 Desmond Napoles, the 10-Year-Old Drag Star of Fashion Week, Loves RuPaul and Makeup
14 Desmond Is Amazing: Prototype For The Normalization Of Pedophilia & Symbol Of Child Grooming
15 Adults throw dollars at 11-year-old drag kid who performed at gay nightclub
16 10-Year-Old Transgender Boy is Starting a Dating Website for Trans Children
18 Family of drag kid Desmond, 11, investigated and cleared by authorities: 'Unfounded'
19 Desmond is Amazing - Instagram Post