Welcome to another #WEEKINDRAG! This week I’ll be covering RPDR scandal, dragging up in the streets and Perfect Illusions..
Lets start this week off with something I can talk about for hours.. DRAG RACE. It’s no doubt that RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 has been one of the most talked about and controversial series of all time. Personally, this season has left me a little raw. As much as lip syncing for your legacy is incredibly entertaining, and the challenges and looks are getting impossibly better every week, watching queens you know and love break down is a little much. It’s also affecting the fine line between making good reality television and messing with peoples lives outside of the show. This past weeks episode (SPOILER ALERT) showed contestant Phi Phi O’Hara sashaying away. O’Hara’s time on Drag Race has been on the lips of all drag fans, due to a chance of redemption being edited into turning her more into a villain than her previous experience on Season 4. The playful villain role she mocked when walking in in a sickening Riddler look soon turned sour. Online hate as extreme as graphic death threats to her and her family have been sent to her by viewers. All reality stars and other contestants receive hate online, it’s expected in any realm which involves putting yourself out there into the world. Not everyone is gonna like you. Unfortunately, some of the human race can’t separate television from reality and realise there’s another human on the other end of it, and the volume of hate Jaremi Carey, the human being, is receiving is staggering. At the end of the day, regardless of your feelings towards debatable behaviour on the show, it’s not personal, it’s drag. Most importantly, Drag Race doesn’t reflect the contestants’ overall character and how they are as a human being. All of us at WERRRK are sending Phi Phi good vibes. Check out her latest #365DaysOfDrag below and maybe show some support by buying Jaremi’s new album!
On a lighter note, the incredible Monét X Change made art history this week with her project “Street Beatz”. The New York based queen wowed the drag world by getting up in full geish in the middle of Times Square. Sitting on the steps in the centre of the square, Monet set up her makeup on a suitcase and painted for filth. During the video, a curious women came and sat next to her, and Monét described the experience as “one the most organically beautiful things to ever happen to me”. The pair sat and chatted, learning things about each other, sharing drag props and trying on shoes. Monet stated on Facebook that “with racial tension at a boiling point in this country, this beautiful white woman, comes over with eyes of love, and a heart of compassion…to just “make a friend”, and now we are bonded for life!”. Click here to watch this beautiful video.
The winner of the 2016 Gay Caribbean USA pageant was crowned this week! The judging panel crowned the wonderful Jasmine Rice Labeija as this years winner. The pageant took place in Brooklyn, with representatives from Haiti, Martinique, U.S.V.I, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and the winner representing Trinidad & Tobago. The pageant was open to drag queens and transgender women alike, including segments such as talent, swimwear, evening wear and interview. Congratulations Jasmine! (Editor’s note: Check out our interview with Jasmine from earlier this year here!)
One thing the whole world hasn’t been able to escape this past few weeks is LG5! Lady Gaga is back! She dropped single “Perfect Illusion” which split the world in two. I personally LOVE the track, even if the key change is a little jarring (don’t fight me, she’s fab). And of course, with a new Gaga single comes a wave of drag tributes. One that was clocked by the mother monster herself, was that of Aquaria.
Work it girl! Let out that rage for a real love! #PERFECTILLUSION https://t.co/vX2WjsO9p1
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) September 22, 2016
Aquaria performed the track at Rise Bar in NYC, and recreated Gaga’s new look perfectly, along with the passion that comes with this heart wrenching track. Click here to watch Aquaria’s performance.
Last but not least, it was a big week for former Drag Race All Star Mimi ImFurst. She held and organised the first ever Philadelphia Drag Awards, and also claimed the prestigious Miss’d America crown in Atlantic City over this past weekend. Congratulations to Mimi on her big victory at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and congratulations to Iris Spectre on being named Philly’s Drag Queen of the Year. (Editor’s note: Check out our interview with Iris here!)
That’s it for another week in drag. Let us know if you feel like we missed anything or have anything for next time, tweet us weekly at @WERRRKdotcom or @emilymeowww for updates on #THEWEEKINDRAG.
One final note for all you queens out there, there is time to enter the 2016 Miss WERRRK.com online drag pageant. Click here for more information about how to apply for the biggest and best online drag pageant in the world!
