GOP Senator defends wearing pink tutu after trolls label him a “groomer”

A GOP Mississippi State Senator has defended himself after facing right-wing criticism for dressing up in a pink tutu for Halloween a couple of years ago.

Senator Jeremy England says the images are being circulated online without any context. England was raising money and awareness around breast cancer.

England, who has represented Mississippi’s 51st district since 2020, posted a lengthy Facebook post explaining what was happening.

“In 2020, I participated in the Real Men Wear Pink breast cancer awareness program to help raise money for a worthy cause. I dedicated my participation in the program to my Nana – a breast cancer survivor. It was difficult to raise money that year due to COVID, but Melissa [his wife] and I put our heads together and came up with an idea where followers could send in a donation to ‘vote’ for one of three different embarrassing PINK costumes that I agreed to wear around my neighborhood that Halloween night while trick-or-treating with my kids.

“The costume that raised the most money would be the one I would wear (and the idea was to make it as embarrassing as possible to raise as much money as possible).”

The winning outfit was a pink tutu, a shiny pink top, and dyed pink hair.

“It was a hit,” England continued. “We raised thousands of dollars, including money I collected from the good people in my neighborhood. My kids loved it. It was a blast. And truth is, I would don that costume again in a heartbeat to raise money for breast cancer awareness!”

Mississippi primary for Lieutenant Governor

There’s a tense GOP primary taking place in Mississippi next month. Last week, England announced he was backing Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann for re-election. He also criticized one of Hosemann’s rivals, Chris McDaniel, as “weak and ineffective.”

England says he began to get clapback from people affiliated with Hosemann’s rivals soon after he announced his backing for the incumbent.

England says one of the people to message him was fellow Republican state senator Melanie Sojourner. He shared a screenshot Sojourner sent to him wearing his pink outfit with no comment. England told Associated Press, “It was obvious that she was sending that to me as a threat,” claims England.

Sojourner is also the campaign manager for McDaniel.

Sojourner denied to AP that she sent the photo to intimidate England. She said the tone of her message “is absent of any intention to threaten and/or bully Sen. England.” She said he laughed and liked her messages.

“As the jokester of the Senate chamber, Sen. England’s newfound decorum is both ironic and bizarre,” Sojourner told AP. “Sen. England is crying foul purely to score political points for his enabler in chief, Delbert Hosemann.”

“Groomer weirdos”

Soon after he received Sojourner’s message, England says he began to see images of him in a pink tutu on social media. One post featuring it—now deleted—said, “Hosemann and his groomer weirdos have a chance of August 8th”.

“Groomer” has been used increasingly in recent months to blast anyone who is gay or promotes LGBTQ+ rights (none of which seems to apply to England).

“So now I find myself being personally attacked,” said England. “Well, I hope they packed a lunch and invited everyone along, because I fight back.

“I have no shame in the pictures being shared, I only wish it was being shared to help raise money for breast cancer awareness as intended.”

After his posting began to go viral, England posted an update to say he’d re-opened his breast cancer awareness fundraiser. It has now raised over $6,000 in five days.

The controversy over England’s pink outfit couldn’t have come at a more topical time. Over the weekend, movie theatres welcomed crowds of people wearing pink for the arrival of the Barbie movie. Even some far-right figures tried to get in on the act.