Idaho Drag Performer Wins $1.1 Million In Damages After Far-Right Blogger Defamed Him

An Idaho jury awarded a drag performer more than $1.1 million in damages on Friday after a far-right blogger defamed him and spread false claims that he exposed himself to children during a pride event.

Eric Posey, who performs under the drag name Mona Liza Million, sued blogger Summer Bushnell in 2022 after she posted a doctored video that showed Posey appearing in drag at the event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The video included supposed footage of Posey dancing in drag with a blurred area around his waist.

“Why did no one arrest the man in a dress who flashed his genitalia to minors and people in the crowd?” Bushnell said in an earlier post. “No one said anything about it and there’s video. I’m going to put up a blurred video to prove it.”

The blurred footage sparked national outcry and was ultimately seen by thousands of people. In truth, the unedited video showed Posey performing in an outfit with a boa around his waist, with no inappropriate behavior. But Bushnell’s repeated posts about the performance sparked a police investigation and prompted city prosecutors to publicly state that Posey had not exposed himself to the crowd.

Posey told the jury during the trial that the episode became a flashpoint in the conservative war against LGBTQ+ Americans and drag performers, saying he received death threats and harassment as a result of Bushnell’s posts. The pride event at the center of the case became a lightning rod in that fight after 31 members of a white supremacist group were arrested nearby and later charged with conspiracy to riot at the event.

“Imagine being in a dark hole where you have nobody and you felt the whole world turn their back on you,” Posey said in court on Thursday, per the Coeur d’Alene/Post Falls