An old Wikipedia page purportedly showed that a user named Anthony Devolder – which could be an alias of George Santos – began his “stage life” as a drag queen using a pseudonym, according to a report.
Mr Santos, who represents New York’s 3rd district, on Thursday strongly rebutted reports that he performed in drag competitions under the name “Kitara” while living in Brazil over a decade ago.
“The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag queen or ‘performed’ as a drag queen is categorically false,” he wrote on Twitter.
“The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results. I will not be distracted nor fazed by this,” he wrote.
However, a Wikipedia page accessed by Politico News from more than a decade ago, showed a user named Anthony Devolder who said he participated in drag shows in Brazil as a teenager.
Politico reported that the page, which is currently blocked, said: “Anthony Devolder startted [sp] his ‘stage’ life at age 17 as an gay night club [sp] DRAG QUEEN and with that won sevral [sp] GAY ‘BEAUTY PAGENTS [sp]”.
It stated that Mr Devolder was born on 22 July 1988 to a Brazilian family with a European background – information that matches Mr Santos.
The Wikipedia page has several spelling errors and was last edited on 29 April 2011.
Mr Santos, who has repeatedly used Anthony Devolder as his alias elsewhere, remains under fire over a series of alleged untruths concerning his background, which arose from a New York Times investigation claiming he had fabricated a number of key details about his past.
He is said to have given misinformation about his business career, educational achievements as well as the nature of his mother’s death. He acknowledged that he has misleading information about critical parts of his biography, but justified it by saying other politicians do the same.
Mr Santos’s alias on Wikipedia claimed that he appeared on the popular Disney Channel series “Hanna Montana” – which was also misspelled – and “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody”.
Last week, an old video surfaced on social media where Mr Santos was heard introducing himself as “Anthony Devolder”.
“My name is Anthony Devolder, I’m a New York City resident,” Mr Santos introduces himself, as seen in the video.
Mr Santos was called by several fellow Republicans to step down after Brazilian drag performer Eula Rochard, 58, told the Reuters news agency that she had first encountered the individual she now alleges is Mr Santos at the first gay pride parade held in Niteroi, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, in 2005.
She said she remembers seeing him compete in a drag beauty pageant in the same city three years later, much more flamboyantly attired on the second occasion.
“He’s changed a lot, but he was always a liar,” Ms Rochard told Reuters. “He was always such a dreamer.”
Mr Santos is the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican to be elected to the House of Representatives but has been criticised over his support for Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law banning the discussion of LGBT+ issues in the classrooms of the state’s schools.
“I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ folks,” he told USA Today in an interview last October.
