Freddie Kahlo
By Cyndi Ingle
While many of us have watched performances by drag queens at a venue or on TV shows such RuPaul’s Drag Race, for some, drag kings are an entirely new experience. Who are the people who enjoy drag kinging, and what do they get out of the experience? I recently had the opportunity to chat with Freddie Kahlo, a Hamilton based king who shared his experiences…but first…
A bit of history
There is a long and rich history of female performers dressing as males in theatre and opera. One of the first was British actress/playwright Susanna Centlivre who appeared in “breeches roles” around 1700. In the U.S. the first popular male impersonator was Annie Hindle who performed in New York in 1867.
Moving to present day, kinging was documented in 1972 and had a resurgence in the 1990s in lesbian bars, as drag king shows became popular in New York, San Francisco and L.A.
There is still much research to be completed on their history, but kings have been part of the LGBTQ+ community since the beginning.
What does it mean to be a drag king?
Kat Jordans
As Kahlo explains, “Some people think it just means a female dressing up as a man, and that’s not wrong. But for me it is about art. It’s an opportunity to explore sides of myself that aren’t deemed “right” in day to day life. I am female and I identify as a woman, and as a woman you don’t have the world as your oyster. I get power from drag. I’m interested in psychology and in how people treat me as Kat or as Freddie. The level of respect is just so much higher when I am Freddie. It’s interesting to play with that power as a female on stage.”
Having just celebrated his one year drag king anniversary Kahlo has an extensive background in performance, visual arts, theatre, music and photography. He had a face painting gig for three years which helps now with the basics of expressing a character through makeup.
For a long time Kahlo had repressed the performance aspects of his personality and as he states, “I didn’t feel like me anymore. I have to perform, it’s a need, and is a way to express myself and make sense about how I feel about myself. I hope others like it, then I pack it up and move on. Being a drag king is a way of expressing myself that I couldn’t get out otherwise.”
Artistic expression realized
With the help of his partner Jill, the drag queen Kiki de Beauvoir, the couple work on makeup and performance ideas. For Kahlo kinging has allowed him to put all of his artistic interests into one neat package. Kinging is an artistic outlet that allows him the chance to explore gender power dynamics and a form of artistic expression that he embraces.
From 30 Days of Drag
As Kahlo explains, Freddie Kahlo is a mixture of Freddie Mercury and Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. “I performed a Queen number, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ one evening and at the end of it everyone was chanting ‘Freddie…Freddie.’ I have an art history background and am a huge fan of Frida Kahlo. She means so much to so many people. Since she is a queer icon, a successful female artist and bad ass in general, I wanted to incorporate her name.”
The evolution of a drag king
From 30 Days of Drag
With de Beauvoir at his side providing makeup expertise Kahlo created his king persona. Checking out other kings on Instagram, such as Landon Cider, a standout king who won a TV competition called Dragula was part of Kahlo’s learning curve.
In October 2019 Kahlo and de Beauvoir presented 31 Days of Drag on Instagram and Facebook. Some of the looks were fully realized, and others were just a costume, and this experience turned out to be a huge tool in creating Freddie.
Where to perform?
Unlike Toronto which has many gay bars and clubs for kings to appear, Hamilton has few such venues, since the closing of the Embassy Club and the Steel Lounge. Locally, drag kings perform at events hosted at Absinthe, Sous Bas, the Casbah, and periodically at This Ain’t Hollywood.
Good feedback
Kahlo has had good feedback from audience members and hasn’t experienced any negativity to date. “It’s interesting when girls come up and ask about it, as they didn’t realize that drag kings even exist. So far so good, and people tend to take it really well.”
Online gigs coming up!
Due to the pandemic if you want to see Kahlo perform in the near future it will be online. Luckily he has a live online performance taking place on Instagram on 
Saturday, April 25th.
The show is called “Sickening, Kings Edition” and features kings from around the world. Follow Kahlo’s Instagram page to view the show.
The final word from Kahlo
“Drag is for everyone and all drag is valid. It doesn’t matter what your gender is or what gender you are trying to portray. Some drag kings are male, some drag queens are female, and some drag performers are nonbinary/gender nonconforming.”
