Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US campus) to joke, to jest.

1900

E.H. Babbitt ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 33: drag, v. 3. To tease. 4. To joke.

2. to criticize in public.

1945		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 22 Dec. 27: The most of you exist on hominy grits [and] neckbones, and yet you drag the South.
1958		E. Aarons Gang Rumble (2021) 5: He wished [...] he wouldn’t keep dragging at him all the time.
2016		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Fall 4: DRAG — publicly point out someone’s faults or wrongdoings: ‘She completely dragged Billy on that Facebook post’.
2020		in Guardian 22 Apr. 🌐 ‘Being dragged on Twitter or being embarrassed on television – or rejection – nothing scares me any more’.