Viewers of the TODAY show were recently introduced to a young boy who, with the support of his parents, is a self-avowed drag queen, or as he likes to call himself, a “drag kid.”

NBC News Senior National Correspondent Kate Snow was all smiles during her piece about 10-year-old Desmond Napoles, whose social media name is Desmond Is Amazing. During an interview with the fifth-grader, who sports diamond stud earrings, she asks him if he’s transgender (to which he answers no), and whether he identifies as gay (to which he answers yes). “When did you come out,” she asks. “Ever since I was born,” he replies.

During Snow’s interview with Desmond’s parents we learn the backstory. His mother explains that when he was a toddler he would sit in her lap while she watched “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” a runway competition for drag queens. He was mesmerized, she says, and eventually started dressing up at home. Snow asks Desmond what it was about watching those drag queens that appealed to him. He thinks it was “how beautiful they were and how amazing they looked,” he tells her. And he thought, “I want to look amazing, too.”

We learn that Desmond’s mother and father consulted a therapist about his interest in dressing in drag. They were advised neither to encourage or discourage. So they let him take the lead and offered their support.

Video of Desmond prancing around in drag during a gay pride parade in 2015 went viral, and a social media star was born. He now has more than 40,000 Instagram followers and his own YouTube channel. He’s been profiled in Vogue and has begun a modeling career. When he’s not in school, he’s busy doing photo shoots and runway shows.

“Sashaying” is the word Vogue uses to describe Desmond’s walks down the runway, with his face covered in garish makeup and his nails brightly polished, but his mother sees nothing sexual in what he’s doing. To her he’s just a child enjoying himself. When Snow asks her if he’s young to be doing all this, she points to the fact that Mozart started playing the piano at age 3. Apparently in her eyes dressing in drag is Desmond’s talent. And, Snow explains, Desmond wants to make dressing in drag his career.

Of course Desmond’s story wouldn’t be complete without Snow adding that he uses his platform to support other kids and inspire them to come out. “I’m fierce and amazing,” Desmond tells her. “Drag kids are going to take over the world.”

There’s a lot to unpack in this story. Can anyone possibly believe that it’s a good thing — a sign of emotional health — that this 10-year-old boy is so heavily invested in seeking fame and attention that he dresses up like the men his mom used to like watching on television? Does anyone really think he’s going to grow up grounded, secure and happy?  

One wonders how he came to identify himself as gay at the tender age of 10. I’m not sure if it’s more upsetting to think that he understands what that means, or that he doesn’t.

And I don’t know where to start when it comes to his parents, who seem almost blissfully unaware of what their son’s childhood has become.

But for me there is another outrage:  This is NBC News profiling a 10-year-old boy because he likes to dress up in fancy dresses and over-the-top makeup. This is an NBC News Senior National Correspondent interviewing a fifth-grade boy about whether he’s gay and when he came out. 

I know the days of Walter Cronkite are long gone and that tabloid journalism is nothing new for network news organizations. But whatever you think about this child, and whatever you think about his parents, the fact that NBC News decided this was a newsworthy story is disgraceful. It’s shameless and tawdry and exploitative, and NBC News should be ashamed.