The Navy SEAL who was a part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden expressed his fury over the U.S. Navy using a drag queen to advocate for Navy recruits.
Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, who performs as a drag queen named “Harpy Daniels,” revealed in a November TikTok video that he would serve as the Navy’s first “digital ambassador.” The program Kelley represented — for which he served as one of five digital ambassadors — ran from October 2022 to March 2023 and was designed to “explore the digital environment to reach a wide range of potential candidates.”
“Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done,” Robert O’Neill, who said that he fired the shot that killed bin Laden in 2011, tweeted. “China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bulls***.”
Alright. The U.S. Navy is now using an enlisted sailor Drag Queen as a recruiter. I’m done. China is going to destroy us. YOU GOT THIS NAVY. I can’t believe I fought for this bullshit.
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) May 3, 2023
“You’re doing it wrong, @USNavy,” he added. “Talk to someone [who’s] actually done something! Not yeomen with t*** and a D***!”
You’re doing it wrong, @USNavy …. Talk to someone whose actually done something! Not yeomen with tits and a Dick !
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) May 4, 2023
Other social media users echoed O’Neill’s anger with comments like these:
“As a Navy veteran, I am ashamed on behalf of the US Navy. I hope that goes over as well as Bud Light did.”
“This is beyond disturbing. I’m a former military officer and I just can’t believe what our brass is doing.”
“An insult to every veteran and their families. My dad just rolled over in his grave at Arlington. I’m so glad he didn’t have to see this happen.”
“From joining to 2016 and being able to share my drag experience on my off time with my fellow sailors has been a blessing,” Kelley wrote on Instagram in November when he announced his Digital Ambassador appointment.
“This experience has brought me so much strength, courage and ambition to continue being an advocate and representation of queer sailors!” he told his more than 8,000 followers. “Thank you to the Navy for giving me this opportunity! I don’t speak for the Navy but simply sharing my experience in the Navy! Hooyah, and let’s go Slay!”
In his Instagram video, Kelley said he is “being the representation of people who were oppressed for years in the service.”
According to The Military Times, the U.S. Army missed its fiscal 2022 goal by 15,000 soldiers while the other branches of the U.S. military, with the exception of the Space Force, “barely made quota or had to pull extensively from their pools of delayed-entry applicants.”
The Military Times added that military officials informed legislators the recruitment lag would worsen in the next fiscal year.
Mairead Elordi contributed to this article.
Related: Navy Hires Active Duty Drag Queen To Combat Sinking Recruitment