Cheryl Hole on LGBTQ representation

My local BBC TV news covers Essex and there was an interview with this contestant on the lunchtime news, Look East.

The DQ said “We’ve just had an attack on the LGBT(Q?)+ community in Clapham the other day.”

From what I’ve heard it was a homophobic attack outside a gay bar. Why bring in all the other letters?

The contestant also said, “Obviously I’m going to bring the glamour to the kitchen,” which I thought showed a mistaken level of entitlement when Sam Fox and Jamelia are also competing.

The BBC presenter referred to the interviewee as “she.” I thought drag queens were usually men, not transwomen, and more than likely (in my limited experience) same-sex attracted.

Cheryl Hole is not trans. Hes a gay man. Most drag queens are not trans, most are gay men.

You can see Cheryl Hole meet the real Cheryl Cole in series 1, episode 6 of RuPauls Drag Race UK. It's on BBC iplayer and if you don't want to watch the whole thing start about 43 minutes in.

@LoobiJee your post made me laugh but it is spot on! Would love BBC to be bombarded with emails citing it. I've pretty much given up on BBC, but wonder if they still have a feedback programme, in which case this is perfect for it!

Excellent questions, @LoobiJee .

"Drag as a cultural phenomenon dates back to Tudor times"

I assume by that they mean the practice of boys playing female roles in the theatre? That's really not the same thing at all.

Paul O'Grady was on record as intensely disliking the currently fashionable form of drag.

Sinner, my understanding is that traditionally many drag artists were gay, but not all - it certainly wasn't a requirement. And few-to-none would have considered themselves trans (the much-mentioned Marsha P Johnson I think used the name full time but described himself as a gay man and as a drag queen, not as a woman). It's a performance, a character, not an identity.

Although that brings us back to the question of why this particular person is appearing 'in character' when actors on similar programmes appear as themselves.

We can but hope that in the heat of the Masterchef kitchen, "Miss Hole's" make up pours off "her" face and "her" plastic breasts melt. Live, on camera, of course.

Now that would be amusing to watch.

Very good, @LoobiJee

Assuming that Elan Closs Stephens is still Acting Chair of the BBC, it might be worth writing to her to:

• ask her to provide the specific form of words that parents should use when explaining to their nine year old daughter that “hole” is, in the considered opinion of the licence-fee funded BBC, a ‘cheeky play on words’; and
• invite her to clarify which hole, specifically, the BBC complaints department employee thinks this Adult Entertainment Industry worker, whom the BBC has entered into a fee-paying contract with, is alluding to in this supposedly ‘cheeky’ stage name.

Is this Adult Entertainment Industry Worker referring to Cheryl Cole’s mouth, as in ‘cake hole’? That could fairly be described as ‘cheeky’, but if so why not simply adopt the stage name Cheryl Cakehole?

Or is this Adult Entertainment Industry Worker referring to Cheryl Cole’s urethra perhaps? Does the BBC complaints department employee believe that the stage name refers to the term “pee hole”? And, if so, could the BBC Chair confirm which of the following does the BBC consider would best describe ‘a play on words’ on the term ‘pee hole’: ‘cheeky’, ‘juvenile’, ‘on a par with playground bullying’ or ‘so cringe it’s actually tragic’?

Or is the Adult Entertainment Industry Worker’s stage name referring to Cheryl Cole’s anus? Does the BBC complaints department employee believe the name is alluding to the term ‘a…hole’? If so, can the BBC Chair confirm whether it is the BBC’s position that the word ‘a…hole’ is funny, never deployed as an insult, and wholly suitable for a family audience? or vulgar and inappropriate for a family audience?

Is this Adult Entertainment Industry Worker referring to Cheryl Cole’s birth canal? In which case, does the BBC complaints department employee believe the stage name is alluding to the term “f- hole”? And if so can the BBC Chair confirm if the BBC considers the term ‘f-hole’ to be obscene, demeaning and deeply misogynistic? or does the BBC consider the term ‘f-hole’ to be lighthearted banter entirely in keeping with the BBC’s duty to “inform, educate, and entertain”?

Is it the BBC’s considered policy intention here to “inform and educate” female children into understanding, at as early an age as possible, that their lot in life as female humans is to be the object of sexualised ridicule and grotesque caricature from unfunny middle aged males, and that they had best shut up about the feelings of degradation it gives them, and laugh along as it’s all just family-friendly cheeky banter? Perhaps the BBC Chair could confirm.

Nothing remotely funny about his name 🤮

I was on the BBC website looking for highlights from the WWC semi finals. There right next to the link I'm looking for is fecking Cheryl Hole. Bastard BBC can't let women have one sublime moment without making sure we know our place..........just holes for men's pleasure.

I'm surprised drag hasn't been cancelled for being offensive yet.
You'd think a man dressing up as a woman as a joke would be seen as offensive to men dressing up as women but wanting it to be serious.

Perhaps we ought to go back to burning those pesky women at the stake? Any other Tudor pastime to be brought back ? Bear baiting? The ducking stool?

A lot of other things that the Tudors got up to - beheading unwanted queens, not educating our daughters - we don't do any longer.

Misogyny, though, innit? Plus ca change, plus ca meme bloody chose.

How could anything originating in the sixteenth century possibly be misogynistic?!

It isn't in LGB interests to become conflated with the TQ - especially the Q. The attempt to push 'queer culture' on everyone - of which drag queens are a part ( as well as fetish/kink)- is resulting in a backlash against the LG - and especially the G.

I have questions on this, can anyone provide answers?
I can't say I've ever been much of a fan of drag but have I've become much more uneasy about it recently. It seems to have changed in the past few years.
Why is there a conflation between drag queens and trans people? There never used to be. I thought Drag Queens were at pains to put a gulf between themselves and actual trans persons. (I know cross dressers come under the Stonewall 'TQI+++ umbrella' but thought that was just Sonewall shilling to avoid oblivion as times change.)
And I didn't think many DQs were indeed transwomen, unless they're jumping on a bandwagon now, of course .... Has that changed too?

Presumably the cross dressers referenced in the Stonewall umbrella are people who don't do it just for putting on a show. I.E. they cross dress in everyday life.

So is the 'Drag is different, it's traditional entertainment, it's for families' mantra just bollocks? And it's for trans women only now?
Was Paul O'Grady actually trans? I thought he was just a gay man. Is RuPaul trans? He seems to be a man when he's not performing.
Othwerwise I cannot see why drag queens, who have been actors and comedians, straight or gay, would want to be lumped in with trans - how is it in their best interests?

Is the lord chamberlain going to censor all the scripts from now on and prevent women from performing?

We love diversity

we like to ensure men who think women are just holes are fully represented

Ye Olde Blankety Blank

@hamstersarse "I'd quite like to read the 'history of drag' that the BBC put in their reply."
"Drag as a cultural phenomenon dates back to Tudor times. It has been established as a form of entertainment for many years and drag queens have featured on mainstream pre-watershed TV for a long time – right back to when Lily Savage presented Blankety Blank.

Diversity and inclusion is a core part of who we are and what we do, as an organisation. The BBC is committed to reflecting and representing the diversity of the UK across all of our output.

We can assure you it’s never our intention to upset or offend our viewers, however, we appreciate you may continue to feel Cheryl Hole is an inappropriate contributor to feature on the programme."

She came out a while back. She is now married (again - I think she was married to her late partner) and seems pretty happy with life.

I'd quite like to read the 'history of drag' that the BBC put in their reply.

I would surmise that drag didn't start off as 'family entertainment'?

Also I had no idea that Sam Fox had come out. You learn something new everyday

So as far as the BBC are concerned, being LGBTQ+ inclusive is shoehorning a drag Queen into every prime time tv show?

If I see a programne has drag on, I switch off as it makes my stomach turn watching the idiotic fawning and innuendo.