Founder of ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ Injured In Homophobic Hate Crime
Image: Image: Aida H Dee / Facebook/Instagram
One of the founders of Drag Queen Story Hour in the UK, Sebastian Samuel, was knocked unconscious and injured in a recent homophobic hate crime and physical assault.
Samuel, who performs under the name Aida H Dee, shared that earlier this week, he and his partner were attacked by two men in the city centre of Cardiff, South Wales in the UK.
The couple reportedly had homophobic slurs hurled at them by the men, and when they asked why they were doing this, the two assailants then allegedly attacked them. Samuel says he was then knocked unconscious by one of the men.
South Wales Police have confirmed that a two men (Samuel and his partner) were attacked at around 3am, outside of a McDonald’s in Cardiff. They have also confirmed that they are treating the attack as a hate crime.
A police spokesperson confirmed also confirmed that they have CCTV footage of the attack, and have released the images of the alleged assailants to the public in an appeal for information.
Samuel had just proposed to his partner hours before attack
The popular UK drag performer spoke to Pink News about the attack, saying that he and his partner had been out celebrating their engagement.
“This is the night of my anniversary,” Samuel said.
“It’s the night I proposed to my boyfriend and I am [sitting] here crying. This is not fair, it’s not fair.”
I asked him “the question”! 🥺🥰 and he said YES! 💍💍 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/P3JQIxwT0g
— Aida H Dee The Storytime Drag Queen (@AidaHDeeDrag) May 23, 2024
Samuel also shared the details of the attack on Facebook Live.
During the Live video, Samuel shared details of the attack and the injuries he sustained – including a broken jaw.
He says he cannot chew food, and now needs jaw realignment surgery.
“This is my engagement present from the world. I have a swollen cheek and a bit of a black eye,” he said.
Samuel also said that his partner’s engagement ring was lost in the attack, but thankfully he found it after returning to the scene the following day to search. He says he scoured the area for where it could have landed after being pulled off his partner’s finger in the scuffle.
“I spent two hours, give or take, on my knees looking for this because I refuse [to lose] the ring I gave him,” he said.
Drag Queen Story Hour creation and controversy
Samuel is a ‘multi-award winning neurodivergent, queer hero of. literature, theatre, and children’s entertainment’, and is well known in the UK as founder of Drag Queen Story Hour.
The popular and family-friendly events happen all around the UK, in which Samuel’s drag persona Aida H Dee performs and reads books to children.
Drag queen storytelling and library events have become common around the world, in which drag queens read age-appropriate books to children, and put on family-friendly performances.
However, these events have been protested by conservative, religious, and radical right-wing groups in various locations around the world – including in Australia.
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