'...and DON'T *bleep* IT UP!' -- the RuPaul's Drag Race thread

...twenty minutes to run in tonight's episode and I thought "Wait, is she going to take herself out?" And damned if she didn't do that, icon forever, etc.

as someone who is deeply non-confrontational and not competitive with other ppl, i kinda felt DeLa on this one. I don’t love her generally but hats off to her for going with her gut

Morgan she died for u fyi, don’t choke now bitch

that whole workroom first round was a LOT

that was an incredible episode

absurd drama, crying... great performances, lough out loud dramatic twist... so many ridiculous reaction shots

Ru not knowing how to act was the cherry on top. So much of her persona rests on being true to yourself and living out your inner stardom, and that’s exactly what Ben did, but at the total expense of the competition that’s become Ru’s star vehicle.

The one 'yeah but' element in terms of actual surprise -- given the clip at the end showing Bendela painting her name on the little bar, it's not like the crew didn't know. (Of course, exactly when that's filmed is another question...)

I really thought the eliminated queens' song was better than the top-five queens' song, even though the performances might not have been as good.

Aja was so damn good

aaahahahaha @ milk “why did you allow me to act this way???”

I really would love to know how she reacted watching herself on tv this season

milk irl

https://media1.tenor.com/images/318a6b4d560639ddcc5c8b5f83d77940/tenor.gif?itemid=5447404

Various Bendela interviews out there now, I liked this one:

http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/rupauls-drag-race-all-stars-3-bendelacreme-interview.html

And to my question above:

I worked very, very quickly. I fully hid that. I scribbled out the name on the lipstick with a Sharpie and then I wrote in mine with the Wite-Out. I totally, secretly snuck those into my bra when I knew there were no cameras on me. I was like, If I’m going to do this, it just has to happen fast. So I just pulled that Sharpie out, scrawled my name on there with that Wite-Out as fast as I could, and shoved it in my bra. The only people in the room with you are the director and the cameraman — there are some secret producers somewhere else — but they just both were staring at me, slack-jawed. So I was like, Oh great, nobody’s going to stop me because they’re all dumbfounded.

Also says here and elsewhere about how Ru keeps very private where Michelle is the more outgoing/in contact with competitors one, which makes total sense.

OMFG.

SHANGELA IS THE SAME AGE AS BEBE AND KENNEDY!!!!!!!

that isnt v shocking imo, Shangy’s been around forevah

I was about to say, it's almost ten years on from when she first appeared on the show and everything.

and like Bebe ahe didn’t seem THAT young when she first appeared

I assumed that Bebe was already in her 30s during season 1, mostly because of her refined bearing; so putting her in the same room as Shangela, I put their ages on radically different trajectories. It's mostly how I perceived their maturity (lol Shaaange).

BTW, was Beeb's leopard catsuit the same one she wore in her first season?

That's amazing. So you weren't the one that gave her the white out then?

No. Thorgy gave her the white out. Thorgy painted her nails with white out because she's a homeless, dumpster person. And then, Ben was like, "Can I use that white out?" That's literally what happened.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8227761/trixie-mattel-adam-lambert-bendelacreme

lol

Her whole encounter with Adam Lambert was awkward city bcz he just did not get her at all and she didn’t really know how else to be got or something

Yeah, that made me feel embarrassed for both sides.

Meanwhile, this is hilar, and Ginger has moments of genius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvKYA6iKMEw&t=1127s

Ru’s newest Guardian profile has generated some twitter discussion

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/03/rupaul-drag-race-big-f-you-to-male-dominated-culture?CMP=share_btn_tw

Willam as always, on point:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf61vPCneG1/
willam: Guess who said it? Winner gets a spot on Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 11 (but if you’re trans, you’re gonna need to hide it until it’s broachable for the story producers).

for some reason i can’t post links to tweets but this is a good thread by @shonfaye

Again - I am not anti-Drag Race or drag itself but RuPaul frequently advances a vision of drag to the mainstream which he believes is more anarchic or revolutionary than it is. For example, this discussion of women's bodies is just the same old same old

https://twitter.com/shonfaye/status/969921568439783424?s=20

arg i give up

Yeah, when people raise objections to Drag Race based on its politics of womanhood, I can't really argue with them. (Related: I notice the queens don't talk about fishiness so much in the later seasons, and I don't think that's an accident). Like, you're amazing and to be copied, but you're also kind of gross? It's a side of the whole scene I have never been super comfortable with. And it's interesting now to see people taking RuPaul to task for his (and drag's, I guess?) attitude to trans women.

My guess is that eventually he'll do whatever proves to be good for business, or he'll gracefully retire.

Strikes me as a Bad Take:

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

yikes

My drag was born in a community full of trans women, trans men, and gender non-conforming folks doing drag. That’s the real world of drag, like it or not. I thinks it’s fabulous and I will fight my entire life to protect and uplift it.

— Sasha Velour (@sasha_velour) March 5, 2018

Double kissoff:

My partner of almost three years is trans, and #bendelachrist help anyone who tries to tell him what he can and can’t do. Just sayin’.

— bendelacreme (@bendelacreme) March 5, 2018

Annnd walkback.

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

I mean, anyone who's listened to a few episodes of Ru's podcast knows that he is essentially fighting the same battle as Lady Bunny (albeit in a minor key, taciturn) against identity politics.

Agreed

Ru still adheres to his own version of “how things are” and no matter what lipservice he pays to embracing change, you know that he resents being called out and privately will just keep right on thinking and saying a whole bunch of outdated shit that he still thinks is “edgy” bcz he stopped absorbing opinions in like 1998

I like him as a personality but the real truth is that deep down he is kind of a narcissistic wackadoodle and ppl should maybe stop seeking his opinion

I mean Alex in Montreal and I were saying on Twitter yesterday per his initial posts that in a perverse way Ru -- or WoW or whatever exact combination -- got what they wanted, an amazing high profile collection of American/American-based queens, performers, voices that combined with social media/technology providing ever more outlets for them at low cost. A legacy was established, but it never meant that they were going to be drones -- how could they!

I've still never seen an episode of this show but omg this is so amazing

http://www.newnownext.com/sasha-velour-slays-all-of-brooklyn-with-le-tigre-deceptacon-lip-sync/03/2018/?xrs=synd_facebook_rpdr

It is and she looks stunning.

Yes!!

I was in NYC last week and went to see the episode at the bar in Brooklyn where Acid Betty hosts! It was so much fun. The place went nuts at Ben's anouncement. I chatted with Betty a bit after the show and she was really friendly and funny. She looked great too.

Le Tigre is perhaps the most famous band to come out of the late-’90s Riot Grrl scene.

>=(

I mean is that wrong though??

SK are surely better known than Le Tigre! (Unless you want to dispute that SK are riot grrrl.)

Anyway, it kind of baffles me that Ru is opposed to identity politics, since his brand of gender semiotics/structuralism can only exist by acknowledging identity politics.

hm true, I guess I think of them as being in diff realms but you're prob right

Anyway, looking ahead:

Season 10 #DragRace guest judges, in addition to @Xtina, include:

• @ShaniaTwain
• @abbijacobson & @ilazer
• @billyeichner
• @kumailn
• @Courtney
• @NicoTortorella
• @AudraEqualityMc
• @ashanti
• @lizzo pic.twitter.com/cWWd5TDWeU

— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) March 8, 2018

Oh and Halsey too.

Fuller list from Billboard:

In addition to Aguilera, this season’s guest judges will include Shania Twain, Courtney Love, Halsey, Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, Kate Upton, Billy Eichner, Audra McDonald, Andrew Rannells, Ashanti, Todrick Hall, Lizzo, Lena Dunham, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon, Padma Lakshmi, Nico Tortorella (Younger), Miles Heizer (13 Reasons Why), Logan Browning (Dear White People), Carrie Preston (The Good Wife) and Tisha Campbell-Martin (My Wife and Kids). Additionally, Stephen Colbert, Andy Cohen and Cheyenne Jackson will stop by for special guest appearances.

A timely story

https://jezebel.com/as-drag-becomes-more-popular-than-ever-drag-kings-refu-1823500621