UMass Amherst student-run drag club hosts Halloween 'Creature Feature' drag show

The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s student-run drag club hosted a Halloween-themed “Creature Feature” drag show. 

In a promotional post to Instagram shared by the drag club, known as the “UMass is a Drag,” the group stated that the show was the club’s third Halloween drag performance. The UMass Stonewall Center is listed as the supporter the drag show. 

In one of several videos featuring drag performer “Hexplode Von Zarobitch” at the event, the individual can be seen posing and dancing in front of a crowd of applauding students.

In response to Campus Reform’s request for comment, a representative for the “UMass is a Drag” club said: “My personal official statement is you can go f**k yourself.”

[RELATED: University of North Texas pauses ban on drag shows]

The drag show was held on Sunday on campus at Bartlett Hall. 

According to the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the student group is a “full-fledged collective for student drag performers that puts on performances every semester.”

The event description advertised for students who wished to dress up in drag to attend and practice prior to the event during rehearsals that the group held. 

The article also reports that the club aims to “[bring] together not just drag performers, but members of the LGBTQ+ community in general and their allies on campus,” and includes “transgender and non-binary drag performers” who are students.

One of the students involved in the performance and the club told the Massachusetts Daily Collegian that drag performances are important on campus due to how “they would not have the same freedoms and opportunities at other places, and it means a lot that UMass is pro-drag.”

[RELATED: Drag queen PROF ‘brings the nightclub to the classroom’]

The university’s website lists the Stonewall Center as a “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Resource Center.”

The web page says that the center “has served the campus and the surrounding community by providing cultural and educational programming; LGBTQIA+ allyship training sessions; a DVD and book library; information and referrals; support for individuals who experience harassment and discrimination; [and] advocacy for LGBTQIA+ students at UMass Amherst.”

Campus Reform contacted the University of Massachusetts Amherst for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.