New York Rep. George Santos and Drag Race Legend Trixie Mattel Battle It Out on Twitter

Virginia Chamlee
Tue, 24 January 2023 

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is seen outside a House Republican Conference meeting in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 10, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images); NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 17: Drag queen Trixie Mattel attends "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" Meet The Queens on January 17, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images)More

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty; Bennett Raglin/Getty

Republican Rep. George Santos has waded into a back-and-forth with musician and RuPaul's Drag Race alum Trixie Mattel, with the drag star shading the controversial lawmaker after he mocked those impersonating him.

"I have now been enshrined in late night TV history with all these impersonations, but they are all TERRIBLE so far," Santos wrote on Twitter Monday. "Jon Lovitz is supposed to be one of the greatest comedians of all time and that was embarrassing— for him not me! These comedians need to step their game up."

Mattel, who won season three of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, responded with: "Maybe the source material was weak."


Santos then responded: "Clearly you know all about weak acting skills @trixiemattel," adding a gif of the drag queen impersonating RuPaul Charles on her season of All Stars, for which she was nearly eliminated from the competition.

Mattel then brought up Santos' own past history of drag, writing: "I am not an actor! I was young and I had fun at a festival!"

That's the same line Santos used when footage of him donning drag in Brazil recently surfaced. While the New York congressman admitted the footage was of him, he denied being a "drag queen," telling reporters: "No, I was not a drag queen in Brazil, guys. I was young and I had fun at a festival. Sue me for having a life."


Santos got the last word in the snarky Twitter exchange, telling Mattel, "It's all good! I won my race against the fan favorite too." (Mattel beat competitor Kennedy Davenport in season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars; Santos beat Democrat Robert Zimmerman in a blue-leaning district.)

RELATED: Fact-Checking the George Santos Claims: From Goldman Sachs Employee to College 'Volleyball Star'

Santos — who was elected in November to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District— has been the subject of numerous headlines after The New York Times found that many the claims he made on the campaign trail and on his resume were unsubstantiated.

Santos has since admitted he lied about some things, such as working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as he had previously asserted (he never worked at either), and attending Baruch College and New York University (he attended neither).

And while the Republican admitted that he had "embellished" some portions of his resume, more mysteries have lingered, like the source of his income, which has seemingly grown by hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars in recent years.

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Santos is currently the subject of probes by both the Nassau County District Attorney's Office and federal investigators who have opened an inquiry into his financial disclosures.

Santos has said he won't resign from office, even as some Republicans in Congress and in his own district have called on him to do so.

Earlier this month, a group of Nassau County, New York, Republicans called on Santos to resign in a press conference, with chairman Joseph Cairo telling reporters: "Today, on behalf of the Nassau County Republican Committee, I am calling for his immediate resignation. George Santos' campaign last year, 2022, was a campaign of deceit, lies, fabrication."

Cairo continued: "He deceived voters. His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives … He's not welcome here at Republican headquarters."