Patti LaBelle Is Trending Due to a Very Bizarre Twitter Political Drama

Patti LaBelle is linked to some very strange political Twitter drama.

Former Republican candidate to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District Dean Browning, who lost in the Republican primary in 2020, came under much mockery after tweeting and deleting a confusing message on Tuesday (November 10).

“I’m a Black gay guy,” the tweet praising Trump began. He immediately took down the tweet once people noticed, claiming it was actually a message from one of his followers, user @DanPurdy322.

After users speculated that the “Dan Purdy” account was actually Dean Browning‘s alternative account made to pose as a Black gay man and support Trump (while also making many very racist statements previously on the platform), a video was uploaded on that account, which has since been suspended.

“Hey guys, my name is Dan Purdy, and I am indeed a gay Black man,” the man said in the video, explaining he wanted to clear the air “because I had a problem with how people of my race and sexual persuasion are treating Donald Trump.”

After much Internet sleuthing, users found that the person that appeared in the video resembles someone on Facebook named Byl Holte, which also shares the same avatar as @DanPurdy322. The framed art featured in the video is also featured in a photograph on Byl‘s Facebook page.

William “Byl” Holte’s Facebook page contains some photos and videos of a woman who appears to be Patti LaBelle. The singer adopted the two children of her sister, Jackie Holte, following her death, named Stayce and William.

An Instagram account @byl322 recently posted a picture captioned “Me and Aunt Patti.”

A separate Twitter account claiming to be Byl Holte, @IncrediByl, was also suspended by Twitter.

The social media company did not respond to the NYT‘s request for comment on the suspensions.

Aubrey O’Day is also getting attention for her political tweets.