Dildo Crucifix: Peaches Christ Gets Feedback From John Waters

Joe Eskenazi

Peaches Christ avoids performances in churches, let alone profane performances in churches...

Last week, a San Francisco Chronicle correction regarding an erroneous report of the brandishing of a dildo-crucifix in a local Catholic church made its play for the The Corrections Hall of Fame.

The item in question:

C.W. Nevius' column about Most Holy Redeemer banning drag queen performers incorrectly stated that entertainer Peaches Christ appeared at an event at the church's hall with a dildo shaped like a crucifix. He did not appear at the event, nor does he use the prop.

Neither Nevius nor Joshua Grannell, aka Peaches Christ, has been able to answer whether this was a wholly fabricated event, or if it was another drag performer waving about the holy dildo. Nevius notes that his source had a "clear recollection" of the incident, but was obviously mistaken about the important detail of who was brandishing the dildo-crucifix. Grannell, meanwhile, said that not only does he have no interest in waving a dildo about a Catholic church, he has no interest in appearing in a Catholic church at all.

"I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school," said Grannell, a graduate of St. Mary's high school in Annapolis, Md. "I think the [Catholic] church has made it very clear there's no place for me, which was a really painful thing growing up a Catholic kid. So I don't have any interest in fighting for the right to perform in a Catholic church, nor do I have any interest in going in and offending Catholics. It's just not something I'm gonna do."

Besides, it's not Peaches' style. "I have worked really hard to create this character, and this is not a choice she would make," he said. "Peaches Christ is sex-negative. The character has always thought that sex is ridiculous and appalling and gross."



Those same adjectives could describe holding a performance within a Catholic church incorporating a phallic relic. While erroneous, the story made the rounds -- and Peaches Christ is a name that's nothing if not memorable.

"So, John Waters called me and said 'I read about you in the paper,'" recalls Grannell. "I said, 'That wasn't me.' And he said 'I didn't think so." So even John Waters knew it wasn't my style."

Well, that's a blessing. If Waters -- America's Pope of Bad Taste and a man who famously filmed a drag queen eating dog shit -- thinks your act is tacky, it probably is.