Posted on 07/11/2025 5:16:57 AM PDT by DFG
The Defense Department is withdrawing the nomination of Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, The Daily Wire can first report, under whose command drag performances took place on board the USS Ronald Reagan.
Donnelly served as commanding officer of the aircraft carrier from April 2016 to September 2018, during which time Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley performed as a drag queen under the name “Harpy Daniels” at a department-sanctioned “Morale, Welfare, and Recreation” event on the aircraft carrier.
The Defense Department announced on June 18 that President Donald Trump had nominated Donnelly for promotion to vice admiral and an appointment as commander of the 7th Fleet, the largest overseas force that the Navy has.
Following inquiries from The Daily Wire about Donnelly and the drag queen shows he permitted on board the USS Ronald Reagan, a source at the Defense Department said that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is withdrawing Donnelly’s nomination to lead the 7th Fleet.
Hegseth is looking for a new 7th Fleet commander, the source shared.
Donnelly drew national attention in 2023 when Sen. Tommy Tuberville held up his promotion to rear admiral as part of his blockade on Defense Department promotions. The Alabama Republican was fighting President Joe Biden’s policy providing three weeks of paid leave and reimbursement of travel expenses for military personnel and their dependents who wanted abortions.
Tuberville argued that the policy was one of many taxpayer-funded Defense Department initiatives unrelated to the agency’s mission of protecting the United States. He called on the former Navy leadership in a May 2023 letter to name the officers responsible for funding and promoting drag queen performances.
A number of legacy media outlets, including NBC and the Military Times, had highlighted the drag shows that occurred during Donnelly’s tour.
“Navy drag queen ‘Harpy Daniels’ is serving looks — and the country,” NBC headlined their story. The Military Times report was replete with photos of Kelley in drag, including one where he is doing a split in front of his fellow service members.
This type of significant press attention would have been “a standard reporting requirement directly to Captain Donnelly at the time,” William Thibeau, director of The American Military Project at The Claremont Institute, told The Daily Signal at the time.
“Every military officer takes command of units large and small with the understanding they are responsible for everything that does and does not happen under their command,” Thibeau explained in 2023. “It’s the basic truth of military leadership, whether you command an infantry company or an aircraft carrier.”
“The USS Ronald Reagan drag shows of 2017 and 2018 were not random acts of entertainment for sailors, but were sanctioned Navy programs under the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) department of the ship,” he noted. “As commander of the ship, Captain Donnelly would have been ultimately responsible for this program.”
Donnelly is a 2002 graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and served as commanding officer for Strike Fighter Squadron 154 (VFA-154), the last commanding officer of USS Denver deployed to Sasebo, Japan, commanding officer of USS Ronald Reagan deployed to Yokosuka, Japan and commander of Task Force Seven Zero/Carrier Strike Group Five.
That is one guy who bet his career on the wrong horse.
Admiral should have walked the plank.
Reminds me of Steven Segal movie without the hot cake popper
Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, certified freak
https://meaww.com/us-navy-makes-drag-queen-joshua-kelley-digital-ambassador
Thought that was normal behavior in the Navy. Don’t drop the soap.
Yeah I just posted that one - good work
I remember a couple of years ago - they had all of
these “Pride cakes” - I started posting some of the
pictures and they scrubbed them off their website
I think it was a Navy base in Hawaii - embarrassed were they?
Yes, well, he’s a REAR admiral after all.
Thank God.
It's not for nothing that the Navy FA-xxxx Sixth Gen fighter is getting put on the back burner.
Our Navy has great people but is facing a serious leadership crisis, especially at the highly politicized top levels and at the new DEI junior levels with a lot of good , talented and dedicated career people getting sandwiched in between.
The Navy needs to get it's house in order.
He should be demoted to captain and assigned to the Raging Queen (obscure SNL reference).
I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. Who thought it was wise to entertain a bunch of lonely men trapped together on a boat by having one of the men dress and dance sexily in front of the others?
Nothing new, there are lots of photos of similar activities during WWII aboard ships and in POW camps.
Yeomen...back in the day we called them t#tless WAVES.
I have encouraged my son’s to avoid the US military career path like the plague. So many of their friends view the US Military service as an extension of a dysfunctional junior college or poorly run high school to be avoided at all cost. No amount of cool advertising will fix the long term recruitment issues.
Let’s not forget the Broadway show and/or movie “SOUTH PACIFIC” with some risque’ performances for the troops! Didn’t a sailor dance wearing a hula skirt and bra? Been a long time!!!
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