Principal replaced and officials on leave after viral video shows drag queen performing at New Mexico high school prom

School officials are in hot water after parents found out about a drag queen performance at a high school prom in New Mexico.

Channell Segura, Chief of Albuquerque Public Schools, admitted to parents that the drag queen performed at the Atrisco Heritage Academy on April 20.

A viral video on social media showed the drag queen, whose stage name is Mythica Sahreen, dancing provocatively while students stand around in a circle. Students who attended the prom told KOB-TV that they weren’t offended by the performance but that it crossed a line and made them uncomfortable.

Parents were outraged at the performance and demanded that the officials who approved the performance be fired.

“It was just very inappropriate for the kids to see that. I think that’s something that belongs in a club — in a nightclub. That’s not something for children to see,” said Valentin Trujillo, a parent of two students at the school, to KOAT-TV.

“My daughter hasn’t been exposed to things like this. She was traumatized by it to the point that she left prom early. We have to fill out permission slips for these kids to do anything, why weren’t we notified of this?” said another parent to KOAT.

Five days after the performance, the district said in a letter to parents that principal Irene Cisneros had been replaced by Anthony Lovato. Numerous other school officials were placed on administrative leave.

The drag performer, whose real name is Dylan Payan, told KOB that he had worked with the Gay-Straight Alliance for many years and that the performance had been approved “through the proper channels.” He said he was not paid to perform.

Payan was also upset by the reaction to the performance because he claimed that people had sent death threats to him and his employer. He told the New York Times that he had previously performed three times at the school and there had been no negative reaction to those incidents.

“At this point, it’s just turned into a hate crime,” he said about the threats. “What kind of message are you sending to your children?”

School officials said they were still investigating who had approved the performance.

KOB also confirmed that the drag performer had been previously arrested for several charges, including false imprisonment in 2023, but that those charges had been dropped. The New York Times didn’t mention those arrests in their report.