Former Married at First Sight Australia groom Dean Wells has been dumped from his management after posting a transphobic doctored image of a drag queen.
Earlier this week, the 45-year-old shared a photoshopped flyer on Instagram advertising a performance by Sydney drag queen Charisma Belle for a children’s storytime event at the Manly Library.
**TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains transphobic language and may be triggering to some readers.
In the post, the MAFS groom who participated in season 5 of the reality TV series in 2018, made it clear he wasn’t a fan of Drag Queen Story Time events and suggested they were harmful to children.
The ‘misleading’ version Dean shared featured a doctored image of Charisma vulgarly spreading her legs with a heel in her crotch. The sexualised image of the drag queen also featured a taco between her legs.
In the since-deleted post, he wrote: “Our tax dollars are being used to fund a thing called Drag Queen Story Time where drag queens go to our libraries and schools and are paid to read to kids as young as three, usually about gender identity and from an extremist left-wing perspective.’
“I honestly do not get what the cultural benefit of this is and think it is sending confusing messages to kids.”
He added that, “being a drag queen is inherently sexual” and that some queens have “serious mental disorders that need to be dealt with.”
Married at First Sight’s Sam Carraro and Jules Robinson share their support for Dean Wells on the transphobic post
The post was surprisingly liked by fellow MAFS alum Sam Carraro and Jules Robinson.
Jules, who is a mother-of-one, commented on the post saying: “😂😂 can’t keep up #horny.”
Whilst Sam wrote: “🔥🙌.”
Story Time host Charisma Belle responded to Dean Well’s doctored post
Charisma, the host of the drag story time event quickly responded, labelling him “another straight man telling people how to behave and dissecting a community they have had very limited experience with.”
“You purposely went through my Instagram page to find the most ‘sexual’ picture you could, to mock up a fake ad for the event,” the Sydney queen said.
“You purposely misrepresented the situation and misguided your followers.”
She added that Story Time was for ‘parents that want their kids to grow up to be well adjusted human beings’.
Dean Well’s management Stage Addiction announce they have fired him
The same day Dean’s management agency, Stage Addiction, announced they would no longer be representing him.
“As a queer-owned business, Stage Addiction has always and will always celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community,” they wrote on their Instagram Story.
“The deeply hurtful comments made today by Dean Wells do not align with our values and as such we have parted ways.”
Stage Addiction represents figures such as drag queen Art Simone.
However, it’s not the first time Dean has made harmful and derogatory comments about the LGBTQIA+ community and other minority groups so it’s a shame it took his management this long to fire him…
So Dramatic! has contacted Stage Addiction for comment.
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