https://www.instagram.com/p/BfLzV1olPkp/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWGA3mylyVS/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfL1Ql9F3uI/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfL0LNnFsnU/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWb3ZU1FnzI/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTE1ihQAAdC/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSXYIB_gTwI/?taken-by=rupaulofficial
RuPaul is currently receiving some backlash for comments he made in his The Guardian interview.
RuPaul was asked if he believes cis-women should be able to participate in his Emmy-winning competition reality show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. “Drag loses its sense of danger and sense of irony once it’s not men doing it,” RuPaul said. “Because at its core it’s a social statement and a big f-you to male-dominated culture. So for men to do it, it’s really punk rock, because it’s a real rejection of masculinity.”
The show had its first openly transgender contestant Peppermint, but when he was asked if transwomen could be drag queens his answer had a lot of stipulations.
“Mmmm. It’s an interesting area. Peppermint didn’t get breast implants until after she left our show; she was identifying as a woman, but she hadn’t really transitioned.” Would he accept a contestant who had? He hesitates again. “Probably not. You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body. It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing. We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned.”
Then RuPaul took to Twitter to further comment on what he said.
You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/HkJjzXzUGm
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018
Fans took RuPaul’s comments as transphobic. Alluding that trans women, who take hormones, are the equivalent of athletes who take performance-enhancing drugs. RuPaul’s Drag Race is considered the Olympics of drag. So he’s saying, you can be a trans drag queen just not on his show.
Fans and former contestants of the show were quick to call out RuPaul for his transphobic comment and belief that drag is a boys only club. Many of them note that transwoman has been at the center of the drag race community since it’s inception.
They also didn’t care for his tweet comparing hormone therapy to performance-enhancing drugs, noting that some contestants have had cosmetic surgery to make their face more feminine.
https://twitter.com/toritouzinsky/status/970713581745516546
https://twitter.com/BitchItsCherry/status/970417337168945152
https://twitter.com/wiccanlabeija/status/970094408749240321
https://twitter.com/deaddilf69/status/970796550535438337
As the most successful drag queen of all time, to many, especially those outside our community you are the gatekeeper of drag. You can absolutely protect drag as an art form and protect its culture without maligning trans people @RuPaul
— Phillip Henry (@MajorPhilebrity) March 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/JigglyCaliente/status/970356732542242817
Disappointed w/ RuPaul but not surprised. Let's continue to create and maintain spaces for all kinds of drag. Make the queer drag world you want to see! If everyone is subjected to gender norms, everyone should be able to do drag. Drag is not worth doing unless it liberates all.
— Erika Klash (@ErikaKlash) March 5, 2018
Rupaul needs to wake up and stop contributing to the erasure of trans women in the context of drag and drag herstory.
— Sateen (@sateenmusic) March 3, 2018
About seven hours after his tweet RuPaul tweeted an apology. “I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers.”
Each morning I pray to set aside everything I THINK I know, so I may have an open mind and a new experience. I understand and regret the hurt I have caused. The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers. pic.twitter.com/80Qi2halN2
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) March 5, 2018
The Advocate points out that this isn’t the first time RuPaul has made negative trans comments. In May 2014 he went on Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF With Marc Maron, and said, “I love the word tranny,” and talked about how he loves to say the transphobic slur.
RuPaul’s Drag Race was under fire for making contestants label red-carpet photos as “female” or “shemale” another trans slur. They got rid of a segment, “You’ve Got Shemail,” but RuPaul said on the podcast that he doesn’t think the transphobic dialogue is bad.
