11-Year-Old Drag Queen ‘Desmond Is Amazing’ Channels Madonna, Divine and Norma Desmond in New Instagram Series

11-Year-Old Drag Queen ‘Desmond Is Amazing’ Channels Madonna, Divine and Norma Desmond in New Instagram Series

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Drag queen Desmond is Amazing, a.k.a. 11-year-old Desmond Napoles, is a drag wunderkind. He’s been turning looks since he could walk, and attended his first Pride parade at age 2. By age 8 he was marching in the parade — in heels — and vogued the whole way down Fifth Avenue. No wonder RuPaul calls him “the Future of America.”

This week Desmond celebrates some of his favorite gay icons in a series of breathtaking Instagrams. Here he is as Madonna in her infamous “Papa Don’t Preach” look:

As Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard:

and as Divine as Dawn Davenport in Female Trouble. (Though Desmond admits his parents have only let him see Hairspray. Good call, Mom and Dad.)

Besides Mama Ru, Desmond Is Amazing has hung with numerous Drag Race stars — and even appeared in Jinkx Monsoon’s music video for “Bacon and Coffee.” He recently met with his club kid idol, Richie Rich, via Facetime. But despite the media attention and his celebrity friends, Desmond Is Amazing has faced bullying in his life — at school and online.

“When he first started school, we worked with the principal to come up with some anti-bullying policies,” mom Wendylou told Fatherly. “We would go to the teacher meetings at the beginning of the year to let them know that he might get bullied because he’s a little bit different from the other kids.”

Last December internet trolls began posting harmful comments on Desmond Is Amazing’s Facebook page, calling him “slow,” “ugly” and an “abomination.” One wrote, “He looks like he has AIDS” and added they hope someone will “burn ‘it’ with fire.” There were also hateful Instagram comments and DMs, and someone posted the Napoles’ home address. Today, Desmond is only allowed on Instagram after his mom checks every message.

But this pint-sized princess doesn’t internalize the hate. His motto? “Be yourself. Always.”

Do you think pint-sized drag queen Desmond Is Amazing is the future of America?

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