'They got enjoyment from assaulting us': Drag queens capture Cork attack on camera
Eva Osborne
Two drag queens have spoken out after being attacked while filming content for social media in Cork over the bank holiday weekend.
Krystal Queer and Lucina Schynning were filming a video promoting their club night Saints when they were assaulted from behind.
After the attack, they uploaded the footage to social media and explained what had happened.
"We were on Oliver Plunkett Street just filming a little reel when a guy came up behind us and started kicking us," Krystal said.
"He ran off, then all of the other guys on the street started applauding him and cheering him on."
Lucina said she went to chase him down the street before hearing Krystal "scream in panic" as a second, separate group of men had started attacking her.
"These guys came up in my face and they were filming us and laughing at us. I was filming back to get their faces when another guy clocked me across the face with his phone," Krystal said.
"Krystal started to bleed quite heavily. We grabbed her phone and we videod the person who did it to her," Lucina said.
In a follow-up video, the pair thanked those who sent them messages of love and support following the assault.
"It means the world and we really feel like we have our entire community across the country behind us," Krystal said.
"Since our last video, with all your support, we have identified all of the attackers in the video and they have all been reported to An Garda Síochána," Lucina said.
"Since then, we've recieved additional footage that proves this to be incitement of a hate crime."
"As you can tell from the laughter, they got a lot of enjoyment from assaulting us from behind," Krystal said.
"And this was very clearly an attempt to dehumanise and degrade us as queer people," Lucina said.
"The best way to combat this is to continue being our authentic selves," Krystal added.
The pair said their club night on Thursday will be going ahead as a form of protest against this behaviour.
"It feels odd to be promoting an event in the midst of all of this, but we're not going to let anything dim our light," Krystal said.
In a statement, gardaí said: "Gardaí responded to an incident of assault that occurred at approximately 12:30am on Sunday, 26th of October 2025 on Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork City.
"A man aged in his 20s received non-life threatening injuries as a result of this incident.
"Investigations are ongoing. No arrests have been made at this time."
