Maynard James Keenan , lead singer of TOOL , performed in drag last Sunday, the 21st, during a show in Florida. The act was praised online because fans thought it was a protest against the state's restrictive laws, but it seems that wasn't quite the case.
The Tool concert took place just days after Governor Ron DeSantis signed a series of bills against transgender rights and drag queen performances. According to James Keenan, however, his act had nothing to do with politics.
During the show, the vocalist wore fake breasts, red lipstick, and a blonde wig. In an interview with The Messenger , however, James Keenan denied that the act was a show of support for the trans community or drag artists.
“I’m not a political guy. It had nothing to do with Florida,” the vocalist said. “I’ve been dressing as a woman since before these clickbaiters were even out of diapers. The technology and prosthetics these days are insane, the way they’ve developed, and I was thinking of bringing the look back.”
"It amazes me how every little thing you say or do is distorted and linked to some fundamentalist far-right or far-left agenda," he concludes.
In the same interview, however, James Keenan said he was against any kind of restriction on art: “I think limiting people’s access to anything is absurd. A good upbringing allows you to teach your children to be reasonable, to decipher things and to decide for themselves what they want or don’t want to see.”
He also said that he had not received any kind of subpoena from the Florida government and that these bills are not serious. "Nobody is enforcing anything. They're just doing this to throw it out there and inflate their electoral base for the election year," he commented.
Check out one of the videos of Tool's performance:
