Florida hotel hit with $5,000 fine for allowing minors into Christmas drag show

Florida hotel hit with $5,000 fine for allowing minors into Christmas drag show

A Florida hotel will pay a $5,000 fine to settle a legal entanglement with a state regulatory agency after the hotel allowed minors into a Christmas drag show in 2022, USA Today reports.

“A Drag Queen Christmas” was performed at the Hyatt Regency Miami, with the hotel billing the show as open to all ages, despite the “sexually explicit nature of the Show’s performances,” including performers wearing “sexually suggestive clothing and prosthetic female genitalia,” according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) received “multiple complaints” about a “sexually explicit performance marketed to children” in Fort Lauderdale last December, the day prior to the Miami show, prompting the department to begin an investigation, according to NBC6.

The DBPR filed a complaint initially seeking to revoke the hotel’s liquor license, but through a settlement reached between the department and the hotel this week, Hyatt will instead pay a $5,000 fine and agree to ban minors from attending any shows with “specific sexual activities” as described by Florida state law.

The agreement does not include an admission of liability by the hotel, according to the report.

The Orlando Sentinel reported the Orlando Philharmonic had reached a similar agreement with the DBPR over its presentation of “A Drag Queen Christmas” at the Plaza Live facility, owned by the Philharmonic. The Sentinel report notes undercover agents “found nothing lewd” about the event. The agents took photos of three minors at the event, all accompanied by adults.

“Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, when licensees break the law, they are held accountable,” said DBPR secretary Melanie S. Griffin in a release.

A representative of the company which produces “A Drag Queen Christmas” told USA Today the state’s actions were politically motivated.

“We have played to sellout crowds every year in Florida, except, last year was politically charged when Mr. DeSantis set his eyes on the White House and used drag queens to fire up his base,” Murray Hodson wrote in an emailed statement.

“A Drag Queen Christmas” is a nationwide tour now in its ninth year. It is scheduled to return to Florida for performances in Jacksonville and Miami Beach in late December.