There is a moment in the Season 4 premiere of We’re Here (it involves three of the four dynamic drag performers walking into some very hallowed halls in the very polarizing state of Tennessee) that is simply core shaking-and that’s just in the first episode! We’re Here Season 4 pivots to brand new locales, a brand new cast and a bit of a shake up in the format; the queens will be spending more than one episode in each location they’re in. This offers an opportunity to get to know both the community and the community members they’re working with, offering even more of an opportunity to make true and palpable change in these areas. I sat down to chat with Priyanka, who offers a fresh and unique perspective to the experience. We got to chat about her views on faith, how bigotry and hate can be layered into it, and what it was like working with her fellow drag sisters on the brand new season!
MC: it’s been several years since you won Canada’s Drag Race and now you are going to get a brand new fanbase stateside with the Season 4 premiere of We’re Here. You definitely don’t have to ask your signature question “What’s My Name” very often any longer, do you?
Priyanka: (laughs) Right? You know it never gets old but it is also the gift that keeps on giving. I feel like I am winning over and over and over again. Because my win happened in the pandemic, it resonated with so many people and I hold a special place in so many people’s hearts, thank God!
MC: Your addition to the cast of We’re Here is brilliant for a myriad of reasons. Not only are we getting to see you collaborating with revered performers like Jaida Essence Halll, Sasha Velour and Latrice Royale, but we’re going to get to see you experiencing the United States in a very different way for the first time also. Was that the first time you had been to those areas of the country?
P: Never. I never thought that I would ever go there and I never thought that I would have any reason to go there to be honest with you.
MC: What did you expect when you first arrived in Tennessee? Was it as truly different as you thought it would be?
P: It was different because it was the South and Americans are much louder than Canadians. I was very shocked on the first day of filming, a truck drove by us and called us “faggots” which I was not expecting. I thought that it was going to be more underlying & secretive; that’s what it was like in Oklahoma. “Southern Hospitality” to your face, hate you behind your back kind of energy. That’s very interesting to hear how loud they are; scary. As I kind of lived there for longer and longer, I mean we spent months there to uncover everything, even though there was not a lot to uncover; it was right there face value. I was shocked to see how similar it was to Canada. The people that were there hate in the exact same ways, people protest the exact same things
People think that Canada is all sunshine and rainbows and we do do a lot of great work up here. There are a great organizations and there are inclusive spaces and all that stuff, but it was interesting; whatever happens in America ripples and happens up in Canada also. We had so many protests at drag brunches, threats called in, and things were shut down. Drag right now is under attack; it reflects in ticket sales, it reflects in how the bars are being filled up right now, everyone is kind of scared to go to drag shows right now. It is wild because it’s becoming very scary to be a drag queen, but also people are losing the excitement of what seeing a drag queen is all about. It’s that escape, it’s that excitement, it’s that energy of seeing a pop star and that is like next-level and really what it is all about.
MC: For you to experience that hate here in the States first hand, it was probably culture shock to say the least. Once you got into your groove though, did you start to see things in a way that you never thought you would see America as?
P: Like, yes and no. There was no shock, but it was more of a fear. The most shocking thing that I never thought that I would see are the things that I saw on my phone live in front of my face, that is what the gag was. I’m so used to people producing shows, producing TikTok’s, telling their stories that you don’t know if they’re real or not. I was more shocked to see that all of the trauma that people are all talking about is still happening and they aren’t hiding it from us.
I mean, we’re coming into these spaces and they’re saying “Yeah we hate you…man in a dress”. It’s not “Go back to where you came from” it’s “Go find God, you’ll be saved”; they want to convert us. That was I think, the most scary and I want to say shocking part of it, but when you think about it, it’s not that shocking.
MC: Working with Sasha, Latrice and Jaida in this format was a way that you probably have never worked with them in the past. What was that facet of the experience like?
P: Well they were just jealous of me because I was the prettiest (laughs)! It was amazing, honestly Sasha Velour is someone that I really look up to; she was on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race that I ever watched. It was interesting to see her in action because she is exactly who she says she is. She is knowledgable, she is very curated in what she says and it was incredible to get to learn so much from her; I never thought that I would be that close to Sasha Velour for that many months. Also, becoming genuine friends with her was cool because she truly is a chill, cool, easy breezy person.
Jaida (Essence Hall) and I won during the same time and I remember going to parties with Jaida during 2020/2021 and if someone said something to me she would stick up for me at parties and say “Don’t treat Priyanka like that”! It was cool going into a television show where we are sticking up for queer people together when she was doing that for me when I was first starting out as a Drag Race girl. Latrice Royale, she needs no introduction; she is the icon. She has this touch and especially having her in Oklahoma and her being able to tell the stories of what it is like growing up in the church and seeing her reactions to being in the church and seeing a pastor speak about drag and trans people being welcome here and seeing her cry… I asked her if she had ever heard that before and she just said “No and that’s why im crying”. It was beautiful to see her experience that. It was really fun because I learned from each and every one of them.
MC: The religious layer of bigotry is something that is prevalent in many areas of the Unites States. It is a way to deliver the bigotry but in a packaging that is initially, not alarming at times. Is that something that is prevalent in Canada or were you surprised to see it here?
P: You know what, people use religion as the scapegoat and the reason. Everyone is looking for a reason and a fact, and a lot of people that follow religion like to use what their pastor says as fact. It’s not real information, its opinion based, its own little cult as we know it and there’s grooming. It’s interesting to me because here you have society looking for community and looking for a light and they go to religion to feel like they are a part of something. They go to be a part of something and the one thing that they are a part of is teaching them to hate. They’re being brainwashed to think that if they hate and they push their beliefs onto other people and get them onto that side, then they are actually doing good.
That is the most shocking thing, that you are looking at people and saying that they should not be doing drag or being gay because God said so, but really their deep rooted connection to religion is them wanting to feel community. That is interesting to me because as queer people, that is all we have wanted to feel too. We finally found community, and you won’t let us simply be who we wanted to be. That is the most shocking thing, that the hate is actually rooted in what they think is fact based on someone else telling them something. I’ve actually asked in many conversations that I’ve had with Republicans and many other opposing voices, I want you to explain to me that if my parents support me, I make good money and have a great career, I feel happy, and I wake up every day excited to live my life, how can God say that that is bad or wrong-there’s no answer. They imagine that being queer, because we talk about the struggle and the trauma, they imagine that that is why we are struggling becucase we chose to be gay.
So it’s a very interesting thing, I always find that the hate is always rooted in religion, especially in the South. In my culture in West Indian culture, I grew up Guyanese that hate & homophobia comes from a religion and stems from there. The seed grew from there, but then it ended up being more cultural. Homophobic things were put into a lot of our music growing up, dance hall and reggae music and it became so normal to call gay people the “anti mans” or things like that. That is more societal than it is religious-based which is another corner to turn; if it is so brainwashed and implemented into your head, how do you turn it over?
MC: Based on your experience with both Drag Race and your life after has informed you greatly when people have expressed how you have impacted their lives. How do you think that in turn, informed your ability to listen to people on We’re Here when they may be on a total opposite side of you?
P: My whole goal since I started in entertainment was that it was for the people, I want to create the entertainment for the people. Drag is the heightened version of that where you become the escape for people. It is an interesting thing to have to take that energy and bring it to We’re Here, but then you realize, the escape that I created for people is also my escape and that is why We’re Here works. Getting into drag, the things you learn about yourself the minute you get into drag is crazy. You are fearless. I am amazing, I can see how happy this makes other people which in turn, makes me happier. It is incredible and I am really happy that the show captures that. With joy, with jokes, with a little bit of serious conversation, but the majority of the time a fully entertaining beast to see how we can take people’s stories and make them into beautiful joyous situations.
‘We’re Here’ is streaming on Max (check local listings)
Follow Priyanka on Instagram
