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Rep. David Love said he received “inaccurate information” before he publicly accused one drag performer of being a convicted sex offender and another of “rubbing butts” with children.
After being sued for defamation, a New Hampshire state representative agreed to pay two drag queens $100,000 each and publicly retract and apologize for 2021 remarks he made about the performers.
New Hampshire residents Robert Champion, who performs under the stage name Monique Toosoon, and Michael McMahon, who performs under the stage name Clara Divine, filed the lawsuit in April 2022 after Rep. David Love (R-Derry) made public remarks about the performers that he later admitted were inaccurate. Champion and McMahon agreed to settle the lawsuit on Thursday, as the Manchester Ink Link first reported.
While testifying at a New Hampshire House committee meeting, Rep. Love falsely claimed that Champion was a convicted sex offender, according to a Boston Globe report. He also told the legislature that McMahon had been “rubbing butts” with kids during a family-friendly storytime event in 2021.
Love’s remarks came in 2022, as he was sponsoring a bill that would require libraries to carry out background checks on staff and volunteers. He expressed concerns about library events featuring drag queens. Although Love didn’t directly name the performers, a judge agreed with Champion and McMahon that Love was referring to them.
In addition to the $100,000 payout to each plaintiff, Love was required to publicly apologize. He released a statement saying he was given “inaccurate information” that he didn’t verify, and said he wished to “publicly retract those statements and apologize” to Champion and McMahon.
The full statement, which was published in local media, can be read below:
“After being provided with inaccurate information, information that I failed to verify, I publicly accused Robert Champion aka Monique Toosoon of being a registered sex offender and Michael McMahon aka Clara Divine of ‘rubbing butts’ with children. I made those statements before the New Hampshire legislature. Those allegations were then repeated to Manchester Ink Link and before the Derry Town Council. I have since learned that those assertions were completely false. I wish to publicly retract those statements and apologize to Robert and Michael. I have agreed to monetary judgment against me for $100,000 for Robert and Michael each.” – Representative David Love
McMahon, 25, alluded to the victory on Instagram, saying, “I could say so much right now, my heart is so full of words that I can hardly express on a post. Thank you everyone for making this possible. I did not expect this MUCH support. Thank you to [Tupelo Music Hall ] for allowing me to use there space. Thank you to all the families that came to support me it meant the world to me. Happy pride everyone! – Clara”
Champion, 42, told the Globe, “It just shows that people are going to be held accountable for the decisions they make.”
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