California restaurant faces backlash for host drag brunches

MORGAN HILL, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - In Morgan Hill, a restaurant hosted a drag brunch Saturday that brought out some new supporters after getting some push back.

At Chacho's Restaurant in Morgan Hill, the patio seats started filling before show time. Gil Mendez drove in from San Francisco.

"We learned about the circumstances under which these people are showing courage today, and we thought we gotta go show support," Mendez spoke.

They bought tickets online to the drag brunch.

"The drag shows are singing performances. They're in costume singing in popular songs," said Albert Campoy, Chacho's General Manager.

Fourth drag show at Chacho's

This is the fourth drag show at Chacho's; they've sold out before. But as it's grown, the owners started to hear more, and not all of it was positive.

"In no way was it meant to bring your four- or five-year-olds, and social media turned it that way...We came from San Jose always with a vibrant fun eventful restaurant, and so maybe that has caught people by surprise we did this so we could bring some culture some diversity," Campoy detailed.

The restaurant's Facebook page promoting the show logged some complaints, and one woman wrote hard pass. Another online writer called for a boycott.

One woman outside the restaurant said she wasn't in support of the show saying, "I'm offended that its taking place on Mother's Day weekend."

Debbie Nunes, a Morgan Hill resident, expressed similar thoughts saying, "I think it shouldn't be taking place in the day in a small town community restaurant."

Full of applause

But inside the restaurant, the show was full of applause.

"This brings out a happy event people are having a great time enjoying themselves laughing positive vibes," said Gracie Visperas, another Morgan Hill resident.

That support from the crowd was welcome.

"You know, there is so much backlash going around in the country...against drag performers and transgender people...I feel like making an excuses of 'We're being too loud' is just another excuse to silence our voices and our art when really we're bringing so much love and joy to this community," said Amoura Teese, a drag entertainer.

"We had a tremendous amount of feedback and all in the positive we are grateful to these people," Campoy expressed.