Joel Creasey & Ms Lazy Susan Condemn Online Abuse Targeting Australian Drag Star Art Simone
Image: Joel Creasey & Ms Lazy Susan On Nova's The Joel Creasey Show, Supplied
Joel Creasey and Drag Race Down Under vs. The World judge Ms Lazy Susan have criticised the severe backlash directed at Australian Drag Performer Art Simone.
During an interview aired on Nova’s The Joel Creasey Show, the titular host condemned the online harassment Art Simone experienced during her run on Drag Race Down Under vs. The World in mid-2026, which allegedly included death threats.
“Let’s get it out of the way because you know I’m annoyed by it, the Art Simone of it all,” Joel said, speaking to Ms Lazy Susan. “Essentially, Art Simone is competing on the show, of which you are doing a wonderful job judging by the way, but is just getting absolutely pounded online.
“Just to these people. You know, in the words of the greatest character ever written, Selina Meyer in Veep, ‘Shut up. Shut up.’”
Why Is Art Simone Getting “Absolutely Pounded”?
The “pounding” in question involved Art Simone’s social media accounts being aggressively flooded with comments labeling her a “diva” and “entitled”. The six weeks of continuous online abuse, which included death threats and requests that the drag queen end her life, ultimately resulted in her posting a tearful video to Instagram pleading for it to stop.
The vitriol escalated after Art Simone co-hosted a viewing party in which commentators critiqued competitor M1ss Jade So’s runway look, saying it did not fit the challenge brief.
Ms Lazy Susan concurred with Joel’s remarks, arguing that this kind of abuse has become too normalised among chronically online individuals.
“The internet has broken people’s brains,” said Ms Lazy Susan, “and I think as well, there’s a generation of kids that grew up on the internet.
“The death threats thing is like — it’s almost just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to go and have a coffee today and then I’m going to go and tell a celebrity to kill themselves,’ and it’s almost just like saying hello. And there’s like a very, very, very passionate group of people that love this show and love their favourite diva, I don’t resent that.
“I love that there are people that are passionate, but of the things I hate most about broadly heterosexual culture is, like, when the football team you don’t like loses, you decide to firebomb your city and I’m like, can we not learn the wrong lessons from an obsessive fandom?”
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