Dozens of Milwaukee Bars Hosted Drag Shows During the RNC?

On July 16, 2024, X user The Halfway Post published a post claiming that dozens of downtown Milwaukee bars and nightclubs hosted drag shows during the Republican National Convention, a move made to make sure Republicans had nowhere to go at night after the convention’s conclusion:

BREAKING: Dozens of downtown Milwaukee bars and nightclubs are hosting drag shows each night this week so Republicans have nowhere to go to party after the convention.

More than 2.8 million viewers saw the post, and many of the top responses were sure the claim was true and that some Republicans going to the convention would also be present at the drag shows. One commenter stated: “Oh they will be there on the DL. Everyone be on alert and take pictures.” Another wrote, “Oh I’m sure a few of them will be partying and hoping they don’t get caught.”

However, despite the popular belief of commenters and viewers, this was not a factual recounting of real-life events. This post originated from the website The Halfway Post, a satire page operated by Dash McIntyre, a “comedian, satirist, and poet from St. Louis.” The site’s “about” page is as follows:

He created The Halfway Post in 2017 to publish halfway real Dada news and satire, and wrote enough about Donald Trump to publish his first book Satire In The Trump Years: The Best Of The Halfway Post available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. He is currently compiling a forthcoming Satire In The Biden Years.

McIntyre’s work, like this post, is meant to be humorous in nature and not to represent real news or events. 

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.