Ten-year-old Desmond Napoles appeared on the NBC’s Today Show with Kate Snow on Monday.
Better known as Desmond is Amazing, the young drag star has become a media celebrity, and profiled on numerous platforms since his premiere several months ago.
In interviews, Napoles has proclaimed time and again that he, and not his parents, is in charge of what he wears (and what he does). Napoles has also said that he identifies as gay, not trans. He says his mission is to “inspire” other LGBTQ kids.
Napoles became prominent in 2015, during the New York City Pride march. A video of him went viral. During the occasion, Napoles began to vogue down the middle of the street while wearing a rainbow tutu.
According to Napoles, he came out twice: once at five—and then at the age of nine, when he began to seriously discuss the issue with his family.
As a profile in the Daily Beast, said “At RuPaul’s DragCon in New York City last year, a delighted RuPaul told Desmond, that day sashaying magnificently in a diaphanous hot-pink dress, that he was the ‘future of America.”
Napoles has an estimated 36,000 Instagram followers.