For the first time in over a decade, there’s no drag show on FAU’s fall calendar. Longtime host, producer, drag performer, and alumna Ariel Rimm says no one even told her.

“Technically, it would’ve been my 15th year doing this show,” Rimm said. “I got zero response from anyone.”

After reaching out to the campus team that had managed the event in recent years she said, “I just kind of got ghosted.” 

The drag show, known in recent years as Owl Manor, once packed the Carole and Barry Kaye Auditorium with hundreds of cheering students. But Rimm says the university’s commitment has slipped for years, citing late payments, weak promotion, and growing political pressure. 

“We signed contracts, we get told what we’re gonna get paid, and then they always pull the ‘Oh, the university has 40 days to pay you,” she said. “It wasn’t until January of this year that we got paid for last year’s show.” 

Promotion, she said, also collapsed.

“There was absolutely no marketing or advertising,” she said of 2024’s show. “We had maybe 100 people there, comparatively to 800 or 900; there was just no care or attention to detail.” 

Rimm believes the shift coincides with Florida’s political climate. 

“All of the politics started to come into play whenever DeSantis started implementing laws about whether or not drag was a crime,” Rimm said. 

The show was even renamed two years ago. 

“It was always the ‘FAU drag show,’” she said. “Then it changed to ‘Owl Manor’ because they couldn’t have the word [drag] as part of the show.” 

She said performers were also restricted from inviting family or friends unless they were pre-approved, with IDs checked at the door.

Despite everything, Rimm said she would’ve understood if the school had just been honest.

“Even if they would’ve just told me, ‘Hey, the university is moving in a different direction,’ I would’ve appreciated that,” said Rimm. “But I don’t even deserve the decency of getting a response?”

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