“And no one has ever said the word ‘tranny’ in a derogatory sense.” (Fact-check: wrong, so wrong.) In 2012, after Lance Bass issued an apology for using the word “tranny” and cited its use on RuPaul’s Drag Race as part of why he thought it might be okay, RuPaul was openly annoyed that Bass should have to walk that back. It should be noted that RuPaul having to learn this particular lesson wasn’t much of a surprise. RuPaul’s relationship to the trans community has been. Instead, it’s coming straight from the top - and striking at the bleeding heart of the drag community itself. But the latest bout isn’t born of the kind of deliciously melodramatic banter that has kept the show running for almost 10 seasons now. The RuPaul’s Drag Race fan community is no stranger to drama in fact, we thrive on it. You are my teachers.” (In her response, Peppermint called the apology “an important step,” emphasizing that “women should not be defined by what surgeries they have or haven’t had” and that “gay men do not own the idea of gender performance.”) “The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. “I understand and regret the hurt I have caused,” he wrote. Less than seven hours after his controversial tweet, RuPaul reeled his words all the way back.
“We work with trans women every night side by side,” Willam wrote, “and for them to be denied the opportunities because of someone’s narrow-minded view on what they call ‘drag’ is fucked.”Īnd many other former contestants did weigh in, affirming their support for the trans community and their contributions to the drag world.
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Many pointed out that plenty of Drag Race contestants have had plastic surgery - some more and more openly than others - and so suggesting that it’s a deal breaker is disingenuous at best.Īt this point, season four’s Willam Belli - who was infamously kicked off the show for seeing his husband during production and is outspoken about having a sometimes-contentious relationship with RuPaul - issued a series of furious Instagram posts urging other Drag Race alums to speak out against RuPaul’s words. To no one’s surprise, this rather jaw-dropping comparison didn’t do much to help the situation. You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics. Peppermint - who spoke after her season about being worried that she wouldn’t “belong” on Drag Race after coming out and was relieved when it seemed to be “a non-issue” - issued a vague but pointed tweet expressing her reaction: This response immediately sparked a wave of disappointed anger within several overlapping communities: Drag Race fans, the show’s former contestants (trans and otherwise), and trans performers.
“It takes on a different thing it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing.” “You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body,” he said. Though Aitkenhead notes that RuPaul picked his next words “carefully,” his answer wound its way to saying that he “probably” wouldn’t have admitted a transgender woman like Peppermint - an iconic New York City performer who made the finals in season nine after coming out as trans on the show - if she had already started gender-affirming surgery.
In a recent interview with the Guardian, writer Decca Aitkenhead asked RuPaul about “the contradiction between his playfully elastic sensibility and the militant earnestness of the transgender movement” (which, already, yikes). Now, in 2018, its legendary gender-fucking namesake has stumbled into a controversy that suggests he’s more behind the times than some might have expected.
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When RuPaul’s Drag Race hit TV in 2009, it was a groundbreaking celebration of all things queer.
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