Reports Claim George Santos Competed and Lost as Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro
At first, 2023's most renowned bullshitter George Santos denied being a drag queen, despite photos that proved otherwise. Then last Thursday a video obtained by the Daily Mail showed Santos, or Kitara Rivache, "speaking in Portuguese, listing off the venues at which he did 'presentations' — all of them being prominent drag venues around Rio de Janeiro."
He told the Daily Mail the video was a fabrication, but admitted he "was young and had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life!," CNN reported.
But according to Business Insider, Santos' drag career wasn't just a one-off, and he continued for a number of years.
A photo of Santos as Kitara Rivache was tweeted by freelance journalist Marisa Kabas, who had spoken to Eula Rochard, a drag queen and former friend of the embattled congressman. Rochard shared a photo appearing to show Santos in a red feathered dress, jewelry, and a black wig.
Rochard said the photo was taken in 2008 at the Pride Parade at Icaraí Beach in Niterói, a city next to Rio de Janeiro, close to where Santos was living at the time. But earlier videos have started to emerge, suggesting that Santos may have made appearances in drag more regularly than he is letting on.
The New York Post shared a video of what appears to be Santos at Niterói's first pride parade, in 2005, speaking in Portuguese to a reporter about all of the gay venues he had performed in.
"The journalist in the video, Joâo Fragah, told NBC News that he was very confident that Santos was the person he interviewed," Business Insider reported.
"Rochard told the news agency that in 2005 Santos was a 'poor' drag queen who usually dressed in a simple black dress. At the time, Santos would have been around 17. A Wikipedia page accessed by Politico showed a user named Anthony Devolder, a name used by Santos, editing an entry to say that he had started out at "age 17 as an gay night club DRAG QUEEN."
Another video published by the Brazilian current affairs show Fantástico on Monday reportedly shows Santos wearing a red feathered dress at Niterói Gay Parade in 2007.
Now, in a separate story, Business Insider reported that Santos was set on winning the title of Miss Gay Rio De Janeiro in 2008.
"Santos left Brazil in 2005 and returned in 2008 'with a lot of money,' Rochard said. 'He got a bunch of expensive drag outfits made' and competed in the beauty pageant," Business Insider adds.
"These beauty pageants are very valued here in Brazil," she said. "The gay ones. I don't know how it is in the US but gay people here go crazy for them and order expensive outfits. It's very expensive."
Rochard, who met Santos when he was about 17 years old, said she used to catch Santos in "little white lies."
"But he lost," Rochard said in Portuguese. "Because when I say 'beauty pageant,' what do you think? A skinny, tall woman with long hair. Super beautiful. And it's the same for the gay ones. The beauty pageant is for boys who dress like women," she continued. "They are beautiful. The boys are beautiful. And he lost because he was fat."
But, she added: "He wasn't a bad person. He was a regular gay teenager in a country where there were no laws protecting gay people."
She added she hasn't seen Santos since 2008. "I don't know what happened in his life," she said. "I'm only telling you what I lived."