Gabriel David, president of Liesa (Independent League of Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools), spoke about the role of drum queens in the parades of Rio's samba schools. In an interview with the Alt Tabet program on YouTube, he explained that the drum queen is not an item evaluated by the judges, meaning she doesn't earn points, but she can cause the school to lose points if she doesn't perform correctly during the evolution.
According to Gabriel David, if the drum queen doesn't perform well or makes mistakes during the parade, the school can lose points. He stated that this doesn't apply only to drum queens, but also to various muses who sometimes aren't sufficiently prepared and can radically harm a school. The president of Liesa defended that anyone who wants to enter the environment of samba schools should prepare themselves very well for it.
Gabriel David's comment comes in a context of great activity in Rio's carnival, with Anitta's presence as drum queen at Grande Rio, swaps of queens at other schools, and samba finals, such as the one that overcrowed Mangueira's rehearsal hall last Saturday. With 150 days until the start of the celebration, the topic is already on everyone's lips and generates demands from the samba community.