La reine RuPaul

RuPaul

“The ideas for Drag Race came from my experience in the business,” says Ru. “All the challenges came from everything I’ve done, which is radio, producing myself, marketing myself, dissecting what it is that could take me from below 14th Street to mainstream Betty-and-Joe Beercan. And we also wanted to celebrate drag as an art form, which during the post-9/11 era had really gone back underground. When a culture is engulfed in this hostile fear, gender identity issues really have to go underground because people don’t have time for it and it fuels their fear. But everything is cyclical and I could sense that it was time again. So, celebrating drag. Also with my own legacy, to bring these young kids through me to build a platform for them to become stars. Because truth, I was the only bitch in the game for 20 years at this level. So now, my girls rule the world! Apparently all the girls round the country hate my girls because the only way to get a booking is if you’re alumni from RuPaul’s Drag Race! Hahaha!”
(…)
“Our culture had to ease up on the hostility on the gender issues,” says Ru. “Obviously, I made it through the ’90s at first, when Clinton got into office. But towards the late ’90s, there was a feeling of hostility, especially after ’98. I went on Hollywood Squares in 1999 and I could tell that the audience, even some of the stars on the panel, there was a certain animosity towards me and what I was doing. At that point, I was so exhausted from not just explaining myself, but trying to explain drag and reminding people I am an entertainer, I am not a fucking ambassador to keep reminding you what the difference between a transvestite and a transsexual is—Barbara Walters would interview me, and she knows the answer, but she’d always ask because she thinks she’s doing a service to the people at home who don’t know. Well, fuck those people at home who don’t know! There’s nothing you can do that will bring them up to speed, so stop kowtowing to them. Actually, it’s their choice, really. We want to make programs for smart people. Don’t lower yourself for fuckin’ idiots.”

RuPaul runs the world, Spin.

Halleloo, Ru! L’article fleuve que j’attendais de lire sur la reine RuPaul et sur l’industrie qu’elle a récemment créé avec son show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Merveilleux, intelligent et pertinent. (Et aussi, on y apprend la vraie raison des pleurs de Roxxie Andrews!) [via @pheeldoulap mais on FB]


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