Video footage appears to show embattled GOP Rep. Santos in drag, boasting of his performances in Rio

Embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos has denied he ever performed as a drag queen, but video footage appears to contradict that statement.

In a video from 2005, Santos reportedly appears at a pride parade in Niteroi, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, dressed in drag. Speaking in Portuguese, one individual tells a local reporter about his activities, rattling off venues at which he performed.

"I do presentations at 1940 in Jacarepagua, I do Cascadura, I also did Cabaret Casanova in Gloria and I did one at Le Boy," he says, as quoted in English by Marisa Kabas, on whose Substack news of Santos' past drag activities first emerged. The venues named are prominent drag clubs in the city.

Kabas spoke with Eula Rochard, a drag queen in Niteroi, who claims to have known Santos. Rochard says Santos performed for fun and used the stage name of Kitara.

"He did not have what it takes to be a professional. George did not have the glamour for that," Rochard told Kabas. 

Santos reportedly appears in the video below at roughly 4:19. The New York Post sought comment from Santos about the video, to which he replied "[a]bsolutely false and just another bit of nonsense from the pile on effect I’m dealing with."

After Kabas's first report broke, Santos denied that he was a drag queen or ever performed as one.

"The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or 'performed' as a drag Queen is categorically false," he wrote on Twitter. "The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this."

Santos is embroiled in far more scandals than the drag matter. He has made several dubious statements about his background and resumé which have prompted calls for his resignation. Among them, was a claim that he previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. He has since admitted to working for a third firm, Link Bridge, which he says merely did business with both groups.

He also claimed that his family fled Nazi Germany to escape the Holocaust but reports have since cast doubt on that claim as well.

The New York Republican this week received recommendations to sit on both the House Small Business Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. He has refused to resign.