Sydney Drag Queen’s Posie Parker Parody Lip Sync Performance Goes Viral

Sydney-based drag queen Barbi Ghanoush’s lip sync performance, which re-created the moment British anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen, aka Posie Parker, got doused with tomato sauce, has gone viral.

The video of the iconic drag performance at Oxford Street queer bar Ching-a-lings was first shared on social media by James on their Instagram page. 

In the video, Barbi, wearing a blonde wig and an all-pink outfit, is seen lip-syncing to American singer Anastacia‘s Left Outside Alone. 

She takes off her coat to reveal a t-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘Adult Human Drag Queen’ in glitter, in a send-up to Keen wearing dresses with the words ‘Adult Human Female’ printed on them. Moments later two audience members come up on stage and squirt Barbi with what looks like tomato sauce, to cheers from the audience. 

The video became an overnight sensation, winning praise and adulation for Barbi. 

‘Iconic-Souping’

Overnight, a Sydney-based drag queen has parodied KJK/Posie Parker being doused in tomato juice in Auckland.

Barbi Ganoush lip synced to Anastacia’s "Left Outside Alone" while being squiring tomato sauce bottles.

(Video via @jaytert0t on Instagram) pic.twitter.com/p8eWjMfx9v

— Andrew Macfarlane (@andrewmacfnz) March 30, 2023

Star Observer caught up with Barbi to ask her about her new-found viral fame. Barbi, a proud AFAB Drag Queen, who loves representing the Lesbian and Lebanese communities on stage, says the response to the performance came as a surprise. 

“The response has been overwhelming,” Barbi tells Star Observer. Though there have been some haters who trolled her, Barbi has chosen to focus on the positives. ” There have been some really awful and abusive comments but the vast majority of people have been so supportive and lovely!”

It was an old blonde wig that triggered the idea for the performance. “I had a blonde curly wig sitting at home that I realised last week looked eerily similar to Posie’s signature hairstyle, so the idea kind of grew from there!” says Barbi.

“After seeing how much hope it brought my queer and trans friends when Auckland stood up against her awful hateful ‘tour’, I knew that I absolutely had to commemorate the now-iconic souping!”

‘Stop Pretending To Speak For Women’

In March, UK-based Kellie-Jay Keen, also known by her online handle Posie Parker, brought her ‘Let Women Speak’ event Down Under.

Her anti-trans rallies were met with counter-protests by trans rights activists in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart. Neo-Nazis belonging to the National Socialist network attended her Melbourne event, clashed with trans rights activists and performed the Nazi salute. She cut short her New Zealand tour and went back home to the UK after she was doused with tomato sauce by a trans rights activist in Auckland. 

“If I could tell her one thing, it would be to stop pretending that you speak for women,” says Barbi.

“Study after study shows that cisgender women overwhelmingly support trans people and believe in fighting for trans rights, so it’s completely disingenuous to tour under the banner of ‘Letting Women Speak’ only to ignore, silence or attack women who disagree with you – which is most of us!”

Barbi has a message for Posie Parker:  “Stop bloody playing the victim! Violence is you saying that all women who stand in your way will be annihilated, violence is you calling for cisgender men to guard women’s bathrooms with guns, violence is not having a little bit of food in your hair and on your clothes. That is at worst an inconvenience – trust me, I know!”

We stan this Queen!