King Molasses is a drag king and performing artist based in Washington D.C.

Molasses was DC’s 2023 Best Drag King by the DC Drag awards. They won the same title in 2022 from Washington Blade Magazine and are the 2022 HAUS AWARD winner for their discipline for work exploring the complexity of queer identity as a Nigerian-American.

Molasses has been featured on Good Morning America, The Washington Post, NPR’s 1A, and was a featured artist in the Vox documentary Drag kings, Explained by Drag Kings.

A DMV Native, Molasses debuted in 2018 and has since become a fixture in the nation’s capital performing art scene. Their drag comes from a foundation of mindfulness, black surrealism, and heritage-based movements that dare to create images of self-liberation.

Their performance work has been commissioned for the John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 9:30 Club, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Club Cumming in NYC. They’re a headlining feature at the queer events held all over the DMV.

Images courtesy of Keylimehi