"RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 2 winner and resident wild child, Tyra Sanchez, is breaking rank again with the fiercely loyal queens to the international television drag show and its host, RuPaul. In a recent Instagram post, the now retired drag queen calls out RuPaul for what he says has been a history of silence around Black issues and mistreatment of Black queens on Drag Race.
The World of Wonder, the production company behind "Rupaul's Drag Race," recently released a video featuring 40 former contestants in support of Black Lives Matter. In the powerful five-minute video, the queens call for allies of the Black community to “speak up” against systemic racism, white supremacy and police brutality, and to “scream for people who cannot scream anymore.”
According to Sanchez, RuPaul's vocal support for Black Lives Matter is "bullshit" and is only important to the drag superstar because it's "trending."
"Although I no longer do drag, I’m not just gonna sit around andlet@worldofwonder,@rupaulofficialand@rupaulsdragraceparade around like they truly care about us black folks. FOR YEARS YOU HAVE BEEN SILENT TO THE MISTREATMENT OF BLACK QUEENS ON YOUR VERY SHOW. IN ALL THE YEARS OF#BLACKLIVESMATTERPROTESTS YOU HAVE NEVER ONCE MADE A POST, SPREAD THE WORD AND OR EVEN LENT A HAND TO THOSE PROTESTING POLICE BRUTALITY. BUT NOW BECAUSE ITS WHATS TRENDING, NOW YOU WANT TO SCREAM BLACK LIVES MATTER. BULLSHIT. YOU WONT WIN BACK THE BLACK CROWD LIKE THIS. WE SAW YOU THEN AND WE SEE YOU NOW. YOU DONT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT US, YOU’RE SIMPLY JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON TO MAKE YOURSELVES APPEAR TO BE SUPPORTIVE. WE KNOW THE REAL YOU."
This isn't the first time that RuPaul is being called out for failing to lend his celebrity to publicly support Black causes, or more famously for the lack of diversity behind the scenes on "Drag Race." A Q&A after the show's win for Outstanding Reality Television Program at the 2019 Emmy Awards between Essence journalist Danielle Young and RuPaul made national headlines.
“Hey Ru, so I have a question for you about the hot button term ‘diversity,’” said Danielle Young from ESSENCE. “That always gets thrown around, and here looking at your team, I don’t see a lot of diversity. I’m curious about how you feel, especially someone who represents so strongly for the LGBT community.”
“And the BLT community,” Charles interrupted, in humor.
“But do you feel like it’s important for that to be supported, behind the scenes as well, for a show like yours, that is so diverse?” Young continued.
Charles responded to Young saying, “First of all, the host of our show is Black, gay, and a drag queen. So check, check, and check. But no, we’re pretty diverse. Yes, there are lots of different types of people here.”
He continued, “Is it important? Absolutely! You know, I grew up … I had to fight … I feel like I’m about to quote a movie right now.”
“All my life I had to fight,” a few folks in the room suggested, quoting the memorable line from the 1982 movie, “The Color Purple.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Charles responded. “It wasn’t easy getting here. You know what I had to do!”
“Work twice as hard, yeah,” Young said.
“And some of the things … I’m not going to repeat what I had to do,” Charles said. “But, yeah I think we got it.”
And then there's this piece on the racism prevalent on the show and among the fans. The receipts are actually quite long.
Side note: We love that in one of the placards in the image posted on Sanchez' Instagram it says, "Shangela Was Robbed." Now ain't that the damn truth.
RuPaul has yet to respond to Sanchez.