RuPaul's Drag Race

About

RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality competition television series in which a select group of drag queens compete for the title of "America's next drag superstar." Hosted and judged by RuPaul, the show has also birthed the spinoff shows RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked!, RuPaul's Drag U and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

History

On February 2nd, 2009, the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race aired on Logo. This first season ran for nine episodes.^[1] Fans refer to this first season as "The Lost Season," because of its unavailability online and on DVD. In 2013, Logo re-aired the season with pop-up commentary by RuPaul and other stars of the season.^[2]

For the next seven years, the show continued airing on Logo, becoming the network's highest-rated show.^[3] On March 1st, 2017, it was announced that the ninth season of Drag Race would be airing on VH1 with encore's airing on Logo.^[4]

Spin-Offs

Untucked

In conjunction with the first season, a behind-the-scene docuseries entitled Untucked also premiered online. The show acted as a recap series, speaking to stars of the episodes and airs in conjunction with the main show.

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars

On October 22nd, 2012, Logo premiered the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, a series that uses previous winners of the series to compete against each other. The show airs irregularly as it needs to build up a cast over seasons of the main show.

RuPaul's Drag U

On July 19th, 2010, the series RuPaul's Drag U premiered on Logo. The series aimed to three women drag makeover to "unlock their inner divas."

Three years later, on May 8th, 2013, RuPaul confirmed on Twitter ^[5] that the series had been canceled.

Reception

RuPaul's Drag Race has been the nominee and recipient for numerous awards, including the Critics Choice Awards, the GLAAD media awards and the Prime Time Emmys. In 2016, RuPaul won a PrimeTime Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. The following year, the show was nominated for eight Prime Time Emmys, winning three.^[5]

Criticism from the Trans Community

In April 2014, the series was accused of transphobia in reference to a challenge entitled "Female or She-Male." The challenge required contestants cisgender (non-trans) woman or former “Drag Race” contestant. However, many consider the term "she-male" to be a anti-transgender slur.^[6]

The show's producers later released a statement on the controversy.^[7] They said:

"We delight in celebrating every color in the LGBT rainbow. When it comes to the movement of our trans sisters and trans brothers, we are newly sensitized and more committed than ever to help spread love, acceptance and understanding[…]We have heard the concerns around this segment. We are committed to sharing a diverse range of trans stories across all of our screens and look forward to featuring positive and groundbreaking stories of trans people in the future."

#MyDragIsValid

On March 3rd, 2018, Twitter^[11] user @shonfaye posted a screen-capture of a quote from a RuPaul interview in The Guardian.^[12] The quote focuses on RuPaul's answer to a question about whether trans women are or can be a part of drag culture. @shonfaye adds, "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." The post (shown below) received more than 670 retweets and 2,500 likes in three days.

The interview started a discussion online about who and who cannot be a part of drag, particularly in regards to cis womaen and trans women. Following the interview, people on Twitter began posting their objections to the exclusivity of drag culture under the hashtag (examples below).

On March 5th, RuPaul tweeted^[13] his regrets for the comments. He wrote, "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." The post (shown below) received more than 5,100 retweets and 33,000 likes in 24 hours.

That day, Twitter^[14] published a Moments page on the controversy.

Fandom

On September 1st, 2009, the official Twitter account for RuPaul's Drag Race launched. As of March 2018, the account has more than 736,000 followers.^[8]

That day, the official Facebook page for the series launched as well. As of March 2018, the account has more than 2 million likes and followers, respectively.^[9]

On November 15th, 2011, the /r/rupaulsdragrace subreddit launched. Within seven years, the subreddit has more than 145,000 subscribers.^[15]

In 2015, a regular fan meet up entitled RuPaul's Drag Con was held in New York City. The event has since been expanded to meetups and conventions in Los Angeles. On Facebook, the RuPaul's Drag Con page has more than 120,000 likes and followers, respectively.^[10]

Search Interest

External References