The Week in Drag: Shangela, Alaska, Nina West, Miss Vanjie and More

Guinness World Record With Madame Tussauds New York And Ripley's Believe It or Not! Times Square In Honor Of World Pride.
Shangela on June 20, 2019 in New York City at the Guinness World Record With Madame Tussauds New York And Ripley's Believe It or Not! Times Square In Honor Of World Pride.

Hello, hello, hello! Iโ€™ve got the latest dish from the queens of RuPaulโ€™s Drag Race for you, and itโ€™s sizzling! Iโ€™m here to fill that Drag Race-shaped hole in your hearts and Iโ€™m doing it with a little helo from Shangela, Alaska, Nina West, Miss Vanjie and more!

Even though we are on a break from Drag Race, our favorite podcasts go on. Willam and Alaska have a double dose of dish or us this week on their โ€œRace Chaserโ€ podcast channel. They share their thoughts on the recent Vulture article ranking the Ru Girls and talk Pride events on โ€œHot Gossโ€. The pair also kick off their discussion, dissection and dissemination of season three of Drag Race on โ€œRace Chaserโ€ Classique. Mano (who I will be chatting with soon, so stay tuned!) is joined by New York Magazine Senior Writer, Alex Jung to talk about the mainstreaming of drag on โ€œWhat the Tuck?โ€

By now, youโ€™ve probably seen Taylor Swiftโ€˜s video for her new single โ€˜You Need to Calm Down.โ€ If youโ€™ve been living under a rock, hereโ€™s the scoop. The video was released Monday and features cameos from Trinity the Tuck, Coco Montrese, Jade Jolie, Adore Delano, Akeria C. Davenport, Tatianna, Delta Work and Trinity K. Bonet. RuPaul himself makes an appearance and Laverne Cox, Queer Eyeโ€™s Fab Five, Poseโ€˜s Billy Porter, Ellen Degeneres and Ryan Reynolds also make cameos.

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Alaska and Monรฉt X Change take over โ€œFashion Photo Ruviewโ€ this week to toot or boot the looks of previous Drag Race winners of the odd-numbered seasons (conveniently avoiding talking about the one problematic and often absent winner). There are rumors of a โ€œSibling Rivalryโ€/โ€Race Chaserโ€ collab and seeing these two together, I am all for it. Find out which All-Star rocks a โ€œchicken wigโ€ in this hilarious video.ย 

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If you ever wanted to spend a day with Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (and who wouldnโ€™t?) you can, sort of, as Logoโ€™s cameras show you a day in the life of this busy queen in the latest episode of their online series โ€œFollow Meโ€ with cameos from Morgan McMichaels, Soju and Shangela.ย 

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Season 11โ€™s Miss Congeniality, Nina West, helps Tyler Oakley find his inner queen by coaching him through a โ€œback to backโ€ makeover.

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Happy 100th show-a-versary to Katya and Trixie for their hilarious web series โ€œUNHhhh!โ€

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Lady Bunny spoke with Build about the HBO documentary Wig, which debuted on Tuesday and about the legendary Wigstock event. Always a great interview, Bunny also talked about the pitfalls of living in a reality television world and how she feels itโ€™s affected drag.

I love Nicole Byerโ€˜s โ€œWhy Wonโ€™t You Date Me?โ€ podcast and I love Shangela. If you do as well, you donโ€™t want to miss this weekโ€™s episode. The pair kiki about love and dating and Shangela shares how she got her start in drag (fun fact/spoiler: she had only performed ten times before competing on season two of Drag Race) as well as how she met and befriended actress Jenifer Lewis (whose house she still lives in.) What a treat!

Season seven champion Violet Chachki (from my hometown of Atlanta) pays tribute to Andy Warholย  protรฉgรฉe Candy Darling (who Willam portrayed in the HBO movie Cinema Verite) with a makeup tutorial on her โ€œDigital Dragโ€ series.

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Watching Alyssa Edwards, Katya and Trixie Mattel reacting live to the MTV Movie Awards is better than the show itself.ย 

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I do declare, Blair St. Clair is the guest on the latest pride-themed Hey Qween!

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Speaking of pride, thereโ€™s still time to celebrate and what better way to do so than by receiving or sending a greeting from one of your favorite drag queens? Pandora Boxx, Thorgy Thor, Morgan McMichaels, Shangela, Love Connie, Willam, Eureka Oโ€™Hara and tons more are offering videos through Cameo and donating a portion of their profits from the fan videos to the Trevor Project. Itโ€™s a very worthwhile cause and an unforgettable gift for yourself or a loved one!

RuPaul narrates the upcoming documentary Stonewall Outloud, produced by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato of World of Wonder. In the film, โ€œcontemporary voices in the LGBTQ community lip-synch over recordings of individuals who were actually present at the Stonewall riots, bringing their voices to life for the next generation.โ€ The film had its premiere in Hollywood on Thursday night and debuts World of Wonderโ€™s YouTube Channel,ย WOWPresentsย on June 28. The doc also has a one-week theatrical run in Santa Monica from June 21 โ€“ 27.


Of the film, Randy Barbato said, โ€œWithout the courage and brave actions of the voices in the film, there would be no gay pride, no gay marriage. I donโ€™t think we would have the inspiration that we have to protect the rights and freedoms that they ushered in. We will continue to fight for them. The fight isnโ€™t over, we stand on their shoulders.โ€

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Get out there and enjoy the rest of pride month โ€“ Iโ€™ll be back next week with more from the world of drag. Until then, everybody say LOVE!