Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, at the time a Navy captain and commander of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, watches flight operations from the carrier's bridge south of Japan, May 10, 2017. (Jamal McNeill/U.S. Navy)
The Pentagon has pulled the nomination of Rear Adm. Michael “Buzz” Donnelly to lead the 7th Fleet following questions from a conservative news outlet about drag shows aboard an aircraft carrier nearly 10 years ago.
Donnelly was nominated June 18 by President Donald Trump for promotion to vice admiral and command of 7th Fleet, based at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, and the Navy’s largest overseas force.
However, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has rescinded Donnelly’s nomination, an unidentified Pentagon spokesperson said Friday by email to Stars and Stripes. The spokesperson, who declined to identify themselves, would not comment on whether the decision to withdraw Donnelly’s nomination was related to drag shows.
“The Secretary is thankful for his continued service and wishes him luck in his next position,” the email states.
The Daily Wire, a news website cofounded by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, first reported Thursday that Donnelly’s nomination was pulled after the Daily Wire asked about his role in allowing drag shows aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
Then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Kelley performs during a Morale, Welfare and Recreation lip sync battle aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, Nov. 29, 2017. (Charles Scudella III/U.S. Navy)
Donnelly, currently the head of the Chief of Naval Operations’ air warfare division, was commander of the Ronald Reagan from 2016 to 2017. He also led Carrier Strike Group 5 and Task Force 70 at Yokosuka Naval Base from 2021 to 2023.
While Donnelly was skipper of the Reagan, then-Petty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Kelley occasionally performed drag shows aboard the carrier under the stage name “Harpy Daniels.”
Kelley also managed to win second place and a $1,000 Navy Exchange gift card in a lip-sync competition aboard the carrier, the Military Times reported in August 2018.
Kelley — now a petty officer 1st class with the guided-missile destroyer USS Bulkeley at Naval Station Rota, Spain — also served as one of five members of the Navy’s Digital Ambassador Pilot Program, a recruitment effort between October 2022 and March 2024.
The conservative nonprofit America First Legal criticized Kelley’s role as a “digital ambassador” and alleged Kelley took part in inappropriate political activity, showed contempt toward superiors and misused a service member’s uniform.
America First Legal, in a June 2023 letter to then-Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro and other senior administrators, demanded an investigation into its allegations.
“In order to preserve the Navy’s reputation, swift action must be taken to restore good order and discipline and to prevent further partisan activity that implies Navy endorsement of particular candidates and causes,” Jacob Meckler, the group’s legal adviser, said in a news release at the time.
Based in Washington, D.C., the non-profit was cofounded by Gene Hamilton, a former Trump administration official, and Stephen Miller, a senior Trump official during his first term now serving as homeland security advisor and deputy chief of staff for policy.
