A sold-out drag brunch fundraiser planned for Eleven Lakes Brewing in Cornelius was canceled after a social media campaign opposing the event brought a wave of harassment to the brewery, organizers and others involved said.
Drag Brunch for a Cause was scheduled for Aug. 30 and was billed as a family-friendly fundraiser benefiting Carolina Migrant Network, a nonprofit that provides free services to immigrant communities and relies on donations to support its work, according to Beer Money Entertainment, the event’s lead sponsor.
The event was to include live drag performances, a food truck, coffee and tea trucks and local vendors. Melissa Easley, who works with Beer Money Entertainment, told CharlotteFive, a part of the Charlotte Observer, that the event had sold out, with more than 100 tickets sold and eight vendors scheduled to participate.
But on Saturday, August 29, Eleven Lakes announced on Facebook: “There is no drag brunch at Eleven Lakes on 8/30.” The brewery later said it had received enough negative messages and threats that it decided canceling was in the best interest of its staff’s safety.
Teri Lippy, one of the brewery’s owners, said the harassment had been going on for roughly two weeks, with about a dozen phone calls and an ongoing stream of emails and Facebook messages.
“By Thursday, I just said if they say the word ‘drag,’ just hang up,” Lippy said, describing how employees were being abused on the phone. One email she received read, “Nice brewery. Looks like it would burn down easy.” Lippy said the brewery closed early as a result.
Efforts to cancel the event
The controversy escalated after social media posts characterized the event as a drag show specifically intended for children. Libs of TikTok, a far-right social media account known for posts targeting LGBTQ+ people and organizations, posted about the event on X.
“Eleven Lakes Brewing, a business in North Carolina, is hosting an ‘all-ages’ drag queen show to raise money for illegal aliens,” the account wrote. “They want to groom your children while donating money to fund foreign criminal invaders. Would be a shame if they went viral!”
The post was viewed nearly 900,000 times on X. Easley, who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community, said the event had not been advertised as a children’s event. Rather, Beer Money Entertainment made the event family-friendly and allowed parents who purchased a ticket to bring their children without paying an additional admission fee.
“We didn’t have an issue in June when we did this,” Easley said, referring to a similar drag brunch held ahead of Huntersville Pride. “So to blow this completely out of the water like this was just … I was floored.”
A separate Facebook post called for a protest outside Eleven Lakes on Sunday morning. It described the event as an “all ages” drag show and said “concerned parents and community members” would gather to protest.
The post said protesters would meet from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and encouraged people to bring signs. It characterized the event as “adult themed entertainment” being “deliberately opened and marketed to children.”
Lippy said the event’s promotional materials did not mention children. She said the “all ages” language was twisted by critics and transformed into claims that the brewery was hosting an event intended to “groom children.”
Easley said she understood that people had a right to protest but became concerned after the event was amplified to a larger audience. “They started advertising it as a children’s drag event,” Easley said about the campaign. “They posted it everywhere, and people started harassing both us and the venue.” She said things got worse when Libs of TikTok picked up the story. “All of a sudden, physical and death threats started coming to both the venue and us,” she said. ‘I can’t put these people’s lives at risk’
For Lippy, the decision ultimately came down to protecting her employees. She said the brewery received about a dozen phone calls, along with numerous emails and Facebook messages. Some contained language she said she could not repeat. The threats changed the way she operated the brewery in the days leading up to the scheduled event. After receiving the email warning that the brewery looked like it would “burn down easily,”
Lippy said she sent one of her bartenders home and became increasingly worried about who might walk through the door. “Every time somebody came to the door, I was getting myself all nervous,” Lippy said. “I was like, ‘Is this the guy? … Does he have a gun?” “I can’t put these people’s lives at risk for money,” she continued, referring to her staff.
Easley said organizers had been working with law enforcement over the weekend and had planned security measures, but they could not determine within 48 hours whether the threats were credible. Lippy said she stands by the decision despite criticism online that she had “caved” to protesters. “I know I did the right thing because I care,” she said. “My employees are like my family.”
Beer Money Entertainment has asked people not to direct anger toward Eleven Lakes, saying the brewery was put in a difficult position by the threats. The company said ticket holders would receive full refunds and vendors would be contacted about refunds. Those who purchased tickets can also ask that the portion intended for Carolina Migrant Network instead be donated.
Easley said some people who have been offered refunds have already asked that their money go to the nonprofit. “So that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “We’re continuing to donate to the Carolina Migrant Network, even though the event didn’t happen.”
Easley said Beer Money Entertainment does not intend to abandon the event or its work supporting local nonprofits. “They may have won this battle, but we’re not going away,” she said. “We are regrouping, and this event will happen.”
Beer Money Entertainment said in its Facebook statement that a future drag brunch would take place at another location. The company also plans to continue hosting other events at Eleven Lakes.
Easley said a community gathering organized in support of the brewery on Saturday drew a large crowd, with some of the drag brunch’s vendors and a food truck showing up to support the brewery. Lippy said the support from customers helped turn what had been an upsetting weekend into something more positive.
“A ton of people showed up in support of everything yesterday,” she said. “So it turned out to be a good day anyway.” Easley said Beer Money Entertainment has other events planned for the remainder of the year, including its third annual Women’s Rock for Women’s Rights event at Eleven Lakes on Sept. 13 and the first Matthews Pride event planned for November.
“We’re not letting them scare us,” Easley said. “They may have stopped the event, but they’re not stopping the good that we’re doing.” For Lippy, however, the experience has made her reconsider whether she will host another drag event at the brewery.
“I don’t think I’m going to do it again, because it just created so much anxiety for everyone,” she said. Still, she said the brewery intends to continue supporting the community through fundraisers and other events. “We do want to help people,” Lippy said. “The whole thing was just … they took the wind out of my sails.”
This article appears courtesy of our media partner The Charlotte Observer.
This story is brought to you by Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.
