'Tempest is a drag legend': Milwaukee performer remembered as friend, icon

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – A local drag queen is being remembered as an icon and a friend.

No matter where you saw Tempest Heat perform, those who knew her best say you were always in for a good time.

"Tempest is a drag legend and will always be a drag legend here in Milwaukee," Broderick "Montell Infinity-Ross" Pearson said.

Pearson is just one of the many people showing their love to Tempest Heat, who passed earlier this week after battling a chronic illness. Tempest Heat, the drag persona of Jonathan Carthell Hughlett, was most recently known for being a host and performer at Hamburger Mary's in Milwaukee.

"I think my favorite performance of Tempest was when she would do Proud Mary," Hamburger Mary's co-owner Ashley Wright said.

Known as "Auntie Tempest" to many younger drag queens, Tempest was active both on and off stage, often supporting local LGBTQ+ organizations like the non-profit Courage MKE and was crowned Miss Courage MKE in 2018.

"He is what courage defines as family and community and charity and graciousness," Courage MKE House Manager Brenna Creamer said.

Creamer, who met Huglett over a decade ago, said that while Tempest Heat always lit up the stage, her friend Jonathan shined brighter.

"He was fun, and he was joy, and he was light, and that friendship played a major role in who I am now," she said.

Her impact on the LGBTQ community in Milwaukee and Wisconsin is something Pearson said will not soon be forgotten.

"Tempest was unapologetically real in every way, shape, or form," he explained. She is what I would say was drag excellence. Black excellence. She stood for the culture. She stood for equality."

Even though Hughlett dealt with health issues privately for many years, Tempest Heat never burned out.

"Her shows were always high energy, even though she had some personal struggles with health, you never knew it when she got on stage. She gave 110% every time to make sure the guests had a fantastic experience," Wright said.

Friends say Hughlett often focused more on keeping other people's fires lit.

"He wanted everyone to win," Creamer said. "In his life, who he was as a man, there was no competition. He wanted everyone to fulfill that same joy and happiness for himself that he managed to do. Even when he was so sick, he still managed to be there for everyone else."

A GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses for Hughlett has been created. To donate, click here. Several fundraisers to help raise money for the service are also being planned at places like Hamburger Mary's and Five Nightclub in Madison.