Christchurch drag pub quiz turns sour following alleged racial targeting

Jojo (second from right) pictured with her friends at Muy Muy in Christchurch last week.

A Christchurch drag performer has been accused of making “racially targeted” remarks during a quiz night.

Jojo, who asked for their surname not to be published, attended Christchurch’s Mexican bar Muy Muy with a group of four friends last Thursday.

“We just wanted to relax [and] have a good time, particularly with the hīkoi happening,” she said.

Jojo said they’d been looking forward to supporting the drag quiz night events, hosted by Drag it Out Limited. After winning the first round, they claimed the host started making “digs” at the group.

“As the night went on, it went from fun and safe to feeling totally racially targeted,” said Jojo.

The host, Mark Jackson, who goes by the name “Lady Bubbles”, allegedly said over the loudspeaker, “Do you mind moving the [quiz] prizes, they might steal [them].”

Jojo alleged Lady Bubbles looked directly at her group when she said it.

She said they tried to brush it off, but comments became political when Lady Bubbles mentioned they were a “proud Act supporter”.

“We were totally fine with that, it was just the comment that followed when she looked at us and said they’re a ‘real government’ – it just felt unmistakably like a dig,” she said.

After they won the third round of the quiz, they went to collect their prize.

Lady Bubbles. Photo / Drag It Out Entertainment Limited

“With other groups, they simply walked up and collected their prize, no dramas,” said Jojo.

However, when Jojo and her group approached Lady Bubbles, she said they were accused of cheating.

Jojo also claimed Lady Bubbles singled out one of her friends.

“She called her out for wearing a pink blazer and said, ‘That one with the moko or whatever that is on her face’,” Jojo said.

“If you were to look at us – we present as Māori, we have our tā moko and our moko kauae, and these digs just kept being thrown at us.”

It got to the point where other customers approached their table to check if they were okay, Jojo said.

“They said, ‘We hope you’re okay’, and told us we were beautiful and that what was going on was not okay.”

She alleged the host also made comments about the women’s careers, saying, “I bet they work for the Government or are on the benefit.”

Jojo said those comments were incredibly disheartening.

“We’re educated women, we work in the community, we’re electricians, we work for building companies. It was just awful to be profiled in that way,” she said.

“To walk into a space we thought was safe to support the rainbow community and then be targeted by someone in the rainbow community, it made us feel sick to our stomachs.”

While Muy Muy staff did not intervene on the night, they did follow up with the group the next day to apologise for their experience.

“We’re deeply sorry to hear about your experience last night. Our team has promptly decided to remove Drag It Out from our event’s line-up if they fail to acknowledge the harm they caused,” they said in messages seen by the Herald.

“At Muy Muy, we do not condone any behaviour that crosses the line, especially when it comes to discrimination or offensive remarks.”

Mark Jackson did not respond to approaches by the Herald for comment.

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