World

US: Bin Laden SEAL Member Outraged Over Drag Queen Ambassadorship

A Navy SEAL who took part in the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden says he was outraged over the U.S. Navy using a drag queen for a discarded recruitment program. Robert J. O’Neill, a decorated combat veteran who served for eight years as a member of SEAL Team Six, said on Twitter he ‘can’t believe [he] fought for this bulls**t.’

O’Neill was referencing Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, whose stage name is Harpy Daniels, who announced on TikTok in November that she would be the Navy’s first ‘digital ambassador.’ Kelley was tasked with highlighting her journey from performing on board beginning in 2018 and growing to become an ‘advocate’ for those who ‘were oppressed for years in the service.’

A Navy spokesman said that the digital ambassador program was a pilot ending in March 2023. The program Kelley was part of ran from October 2022 to March 2023 and was designed to ‘explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates for military recruitment. After O’Neill sent out his tweet Wednesday afternoon, others chimed in to share in O’Neill’s outrage over the ambassadorship. His tweet quickly gained 1.1 million views and thousands of likes and retweets.

Others strongly disagreed with O’Neill’s sentiments, however, calling him out for his statements. While the campaign was active, Kelley was one of five digital ambassadors. Many have since compared her to Dylan Mulvaney, the trans activist whose association with Bud Light sparked a PR crisis for the brand.  Kelley has a large following on TikTok where she has been sharing videos of her drag performances onboard Navy ships for years. 

The outrage over the now discarded program comes as the military is predicted to miss its recruiting targets for the 2023 fiscal year. The Military Times reported last month the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Army are all on track to fall short by ‘thousands’ of recruits. The Navy specifically is looking at a shortcoming of some 6,000 members. The Army is set to be off by around 10,000 while the Air Force is projected to be around 3,400.

Comments

Source
Daily Mail
Back to top button