“RuPaul’s Drag Race” may have seemed like a flash in the pan kind of show when it started eight years ago, but after eight successful seasons on Logo, it’s clear that “Drag Race” has become a niche cultural phenomenon and has helped to launch the careers of 100 different drag queens. But like many other successful ideas that happen in minority markets, “Drag Race” found itself seemingly being copied and marketed to straight audiences in the mainstream world. So what does RuPaul think of the alleged copycats of his hit show? Well, recently, he opened up about the issue and explained how appropriation of LGBT culture has always been a thing in entertainment.
For fans who don’t know, being able to lip-synch to songs is considered drag 101 in drag culture. And at the end of every episode of “Drag Race,” the two queens who did the worst throughout the week end up in the bottom two and have to “lip-synch for their lives” two see who gets to stay.
When “Lip Sync Battle,” a show in which two celebrities battle it out on stage while lip-synching to popular songs, hit the airwaves last year, fans of “Drag Race” immediately drew comparisons between the two shows and claimed that “Lip Sync Battle” was just a mainstream copy of “Drag Race” for straight people.
According to media reports, RuPaul was recently asked what he thinks about “Lip Sync Battle,” as well as Jimmy Fallon having celebrities lip-synch songs on his talk show, and RuPaul blasted them for copying the format he made popular on TV.
“Oh, I don’t think of it. It’s a poor rip off of our show. Regular, straight pop culture has liberally lifted things from gay culture as long as I can remember. And that’s fine, because guess what? We have so much more where that comes from. Take it!” RuPaul said.
And what RuPaul has next to offer fans is his new celebrity game show, “Gay For Play,” which begins airing on Logo next month.
“That’s why [my new show] ‘Gay for Play’ is such a fun thing, because we’ve taken the best of the gay sensibility and put it all in one place. And we’re showing these b—— how it’s really done,” RuPaul.
However, RuPaul explains that even if he does create a hit show with gay sensibility, some gay fans would prefer a “straight” copy of it because of their own homophobia and shame.
“But it’s funny how that works, even in gay culture. There’s a certain ‘gay shame.’ Gay people will accept a straight pop star over a gay pop star, or they will accept a straight version of a gay thing, because there’s still so much self-loathing, you know?” RuPaul said.
“They talk so much about acceptance now today and it’s like, yes, but trust me — I’m old and I know this s— — it’s superficial. Because as soon as the lights go out, you’ll see how advanced people’s thinking is. This so-called ‘Will & Grace acceptance’ era is just people f—— posing. Things haven’t changed that much. You see it in politics right now — that’s the f—— truth of people. And you know, people will have you think, ‘Oh, we’re fashion. We’re gay. That’s my gay over there!’ It’s like, no. We’re still a very, very, very primitive culture.”
