UCLA Entertainment Law Review

For centuries, drag performance has persisted as a socially complicated art form inextricably tied to the LGBTQ+ community.  Historically, prevailing audiences often labeled the art form and the queer community as unconventional and threatening.  As a result, drag art’s sudden acceptance by the same mainstream crowd is both satisfying and precarious from an intellectual property perspective.  This Comment examines the development of drag through its heightened popularity in entertainment today, where drag artists are faced with insufficient intellectual property protections unfit for dynamic queer art.