GOP Sens. Question Why Navy Used Drag Queen to Recruit

Republican senators want to know why the U.S. Navy used a “TikTok drag queen” to help reach potential recruits on social media.

“While we understand the importance of social media for modern recruiting, we are concerned about both the promotion of a banned app and behavior that many deem inappropriate in a professional workplace,” the 14 senators wrote Wednesday in a letter addressed to U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

Joshua Kelley, known as “Happy Daniels,” was part of a digital ambassador initiative with the U.S. Navy from October, 2022, to March, 2023, “designed to explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates,” a Navy spokesperson told Fox News.

“The Navy did not compensate YN2 Kelley or any others for being Navy Digital Ambassadors. The pilot has concluded and we are now evaluating the program and how it will exist in the future,” the spokesperson added.

Kelley wrote on social media that “being able to share my drag experience on my off time with my fellow sailors has been a blessing. This experience has brought me so much strength, courage and ambition to continue being an advocate and representation of queer sailors!”

The senators in their letter asked whether the Navy “endorses the personal posts of its influencers and ‘ambassadors,’ ” and, if so, “does the Navy endorse drag shows?”

“Where does the Navy draw the line on promotion of the personal activities of its influencers?” they added. “Would the Navy enlist burlesque or exotic dancers to reach possible recruits? Such activity is not appropriate for promotion in a professional workplace or the United States military.”

Senators also said it was their “responsibility to conduct oversight and to determine potential legislative responses to the Navy’s recruiting crisis and its Digital Ambassador program.”