Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is not afraid to make a bold statement on stage. And at the Welcome to Rockville Festival on Sunday night (May 21) in Daytona Beach, Fla., the singer — who often dons elaborate costumes during his band’s sets — slipped into something that seemed aimed at making Florida Gov. and likely Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis feel uncomfortable.
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During Tool’s first show of 2023, Keenan took the stage in a blonde wig, smeared red lipstick and a body-hugging shirt that showed off his fake breasts. The outfit appeared to be a reaction to a series of controversial bills signed by DeSantis last week, one of which bars minors from attending drag shows, as well as measures that severely restrict discussion of personal pronouns in schools and ban gender-affirming care for minors.
As noted in Consequence — which posted a series of photos of Keenan — because Welcome to Rockville was an all-ages festival, the singer was, technically, in violation of the new law.
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Keenan isn’t the first artist to mount a public protest against the latest bill from a conservative lawmaker looking to make headlines with legislation based on hot-button culture war issues. Husband-and-wife team Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick danced around the living room to Taylor Swift’s “Karma” last month while wearing shirts that read “drag is an art and drag is a right” over the image of a drag performer in protest against a Tennessee anti-drag law.
Reba McEntire has also spoken out against the Tennessee law, while Cyndi Lauper and the B-52s made statements in March against what the group called were bills that promote “transphobia and discrimination against transgender individuals and drag artists.”
Check out images of Keenan at Rockville below.