Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan is fearless in making a bold statement on stage. And at the Welcome to Rockville Festival on Sunday night, May 21 in Daytona Beach, 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. 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 controversial bill 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. According to Keenan’s recent interview Steve-O's Wild Ride podcast, Keenan used to wear breasts in 1997 and was waiting for the right moment to bring them back to his stage performances. As noted in Consequence, the singer was, technically, in violation of the new law as Welcome to Rockville was an all-ages festival. Keenan isn’t the first artist to mount a public protest against the conservative laws. Husband-and-wife team Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick danced to Taylor Swift’s “Karma” last month sporting “drag is an art and drag is a right” t-shirts to protest the Tennessee anti-drag law.
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