Truth About India Willoughby’s ‘Drag Queen Phobia’ Revealed By Leaked Photos

Channel 5

As the UK’s first transgender newsreader, India Willoughby is a pioneer among the LGBT community.

However, her recent comments about her supposed ‘drag queen phobia’ on Celebrity Big Brother have sparked anger among viewers.

Speaking on the Channel 5 reality show, the 51-year-old broadcaster controversially compared drag queens to minstrel shows.

India appeared angered when fellow housemate – The Apprentice contestant Andrew Brady – dressed in drag, lashing out at the rest of the group before leaving the room.

However, all might not be as it appears…

Channel 5

India admitted to being upset about Andrew’s drag performance, stating:

It did [upset me]. Why? I’m a woman, not what [he thinks is] a woman! Not a man. A man walked into the room in a dress, and everyone laughed at it.

I’ve got something called gender dysphoria, which you can only resolve with medical attention. Someone coming in dressed that way, freaks me out.

Andrew later tried to apologise, however, India’s later comments, where she compared drag shows to blackface have proved to be divisive:

Transexual people have suffered over the years, a lot of laughter.

Probably like the old days when the black-and-white minstrels put on a show… Obviously, black people would find that offensive.

You can watch India’s reaction to Andrew’s appearance as ‘Betty Swollocks’ below:

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Fans were not impressed by India’s reaction, with some describing her as being ‘attention seeking’.

One person tweeted:

Courtney’s ability to vocalise LGBT concepts with such clarity puts India to shame. She’s fighting for acceptance but is so shut off to other people’s views.

She couldn’t even find it in herself to accept a drag queen. Practise what you preach, Hun. #cbb

Others took serious issue with her problematic blackface comparison, which some described as being ‘culturally tone deaf’.

One person said:

No, I’m sorry, there’s absolutely ZERO correlation between drag performers and black face, that’s an absolutely disgusting comparative that shows how little India actually knows about drag #CBBUK

While another person commented:

India comparing Drag Queens to black face minstrels is incredibly offensive to both the drag and black community.

How culturally tone deaf #CBBIndia

India is now receiving fresh criticism after selfies of her posing with drag queens have surfaced from the not-so-distant depths of her Twitter history.

The pictures were taken in May, 2017, at Harrogate Pride – despite India having claimed to have never attended a Pride march – and she doesn’t look scared in the slightest.

One person tweeted:

Lots of challenges bravely overcome & hard work put in, by & for the trans community being unravelled by #CBBIndia. This looks like one great big manipulation… Needs to leave.

Another has speculated India is ‘just playing for airtime’:

She is just jealous as the spotlight is no longer on her and she has some competition in the house with Shane/Courtney who is very articulate and knowledgable and far more open and friendly than her.

India’s apparent lies make absolutely no sense – to me anyway – and she needs to be careful or she’s going to alienate both viewers and fellow housemates alike from the looks of things!

Julia Banim

Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.