If “what in tarnation?” was a story, this would be it.
On Wednesday, CBS Mornings featured KYNE Santos, a Drag Queen who teaches about mathematics on TikTok. Hosts fawned over “Math Queen” and encouraged viewers to check out Santos’ new book, “Math in Drag,” which talks about the intersection between “mathematical mysteries” and “the art of drag.”
“Yeah. You know, people think that these are two such separate worlds," Santos told the hosts. "You know, math is all about rules and getting the right answer. Drag is art, and art has no rules. But really the book is about all the ways that they overlap and really, the higher level math is about thinking creatively and, you know, questioning rules and stereotypes.”
Host Gayle King added, “You say math and drag are marvelous, whimsical, controversial, and never boring,” before diving into talking about Santos’ TikTok page where he - decked out in his drag queen attire - talks about math in little video clips online.
“I started making videos telling people riddles and sharing math because I want other people to experience the joys of math, as well,” Santos told CBS Mornings.
Santos’ TikTok page currently has 1,500,000 followers and one of his more viral videos about the Möbius strip has over 14,500,000 views and more than 3,000,000 likes.
Obviously, this has garnered some controversy, which King then proceeded to mention. She asserted that some people think Santos “shouldn’t be bringing math to kids.”
“Anybody can study math. Doesn't matter what you look like. All that matters is what's in your head,” Santos insisted while the three hosts nodded and let out sounds of approval.
Host Tony Dokoupil, who the others joked looked like a stereotypical math teacher, asked about why the education system is failing to teach kids math.
"Math Queen" insisted that schools aren’t being creative enough and suggested that if they took an approach like he does, you know, in drag, maybe then kids would understand mathematics more.
Uh…no thank you.
I think the issue is that schools are focusing more on brainwashing and progressivism than academics. Adding a drag queen to the mix is only going to make that worse in my opinion.
“You embrace yourself and you really celebrate who you are and how you do what you do,” King said energetically.
Santos then admitted that watching shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race helped him open his “mind up to, you know, drag queens just being artists.”
Santos sees “math in everything,” King commented before he gave an example of the purple sparkly dress he was wearing, even saying that to make it he would use pi to figure out the circumference, diameter, etc.
The hosts loved the “beautiful dress.”
“I like this book because it’s able to make information digestible that at sometimes, to kids and adults, can seem daunting,” host Nate Burleson said before Santos explained his desire to make math fun.
While hosts were in love with Santos’ whole persona and mission, I’m trying to keep kids away from drag queens, not bring them closer to the lunacy. I do not recommend with even a morsel of my being that you get Santos’ book for your kids.
