“It’s a weird thing.”
Ru Paul’s Drag Race is currently in Season 11 of the show and showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. The show has become mainstream, with streaming service Netflix picking it up and serving viewers new episodes weekly.
The Emmy award-winning show, hosted by Ru Paul, pits queens against one another to win the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar and a prize of $100,000.
But speaking on Ireland Unfiltered with Dion Fanning this week, Rory O’Neill, also known as drag queen Panti Bliss, explained why he finds proliferation of drag weird and awkward.
Rory: The thing I’ve worried about most since being told I was dying is being mainstream and respectable. And that’s compounded by stuff like – I know you’re a heterosexual man – but there’s a thing called Ru Paul’s Drag Race, which has made drag more popular than it has ever been, with like teenage girls and people who are not supposed to be our audience.
I did this thing called Zeminar in the RDS a while ago and it’s for young people and all that, and I’m walking into the RDS in full drag trying to find out where I’m meant to be. And groups of teenage girls are screaming and coming up to compliment me on my hip padding. And I’m like “You’re not even meant to know about hip padding”.
It’s a weird thing, I have my own particular weirdness situation of ending up mainstreamed, and drag itself at the same time has become more mainstream than it ever has and that is weird and awkward and I don’t like it.
Ireland Unfiltered, brought to you in partnership with Carlsberg Unfiltered, will be available everywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube every Tuesday.
