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

Hello, hello, hello! I’ve got the latest dish from the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race for you, and it’s sizzling! I’m here to fill that Drag Race-shaped hole in your hearts and I’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 “Race Chaser” podcast channel. They share their thoughts on the recent Vulture article ranking the Ru Girls and talk Pride events on “Hot Goss”. The pair also kick off their discussion, dissection and dissemination of season three of Drag Race on “Race Chaser” 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 “What the Tuck?”

By now, you’ve probably seen Taylor Swift‘s video for her new single ‘You Need to Calm Down.” If you’ve been living under a rock, here’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 Eye’s Fab Five, Pose‘s Billy Porter, Ellen Degeneres and Ryan Reynolds also make cameos.

Alaska and Monét X Change take over “Fashion Photo Ruview” 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 “Sibling Rivalry”/”Race Chaser” collab and seeing these two together, I am all for it. Find out which All-Star rocks a “chicken wig” in this hilarious video.

If you ever wanted to spend a day with Vanessa Vanjie Mateo (and who wouldn’t?) you can, sort of, as Logo’s cameras show you a day in the life of this busy queen in the latest episode of their online series “Follow Me” with cameos from Morgan McMichaels, Soju and Shangela.

Season 11’s Miss Congeniality, Nina West, helps Tyler Oakley find his inner queen by coaching him through a “back to back” makeover.

Happy 100th show-a-versary to Katya and Trixie for their hilarious web series “UNHhhh!”

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 it’s affected drag.

I love Nicole Byer‘s “Why Won’t You Date Me?” podcast and I love Shangela. If you do as well, you don’t want to miss this week’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 Warhol protégée Candy Darling (who Willam portrayed in the HBO movie Cinema Verite) with a makeup tutorial on her “Digital Drag” series.

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

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

Speaking of pride, there’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 O’Hara and tons more are offering videos through Cameo and donating a portion of their profits from the fan videos to the Trevor Project. It’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, “contemporary 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.” The film had its premiere in Hollywood on Thursday night and debuts World of Wonder’s YouTube Channel, WOWPresents on June 28. The doc also has a one-week theatrical run in Santa Monica from June 21 – 27.

Of the film, Randy Barbato said, “Without the courage and brave actions of the voices in the film, there would be no gay pride, no gay marriage. I don’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 isn’t over, we stand on their shoulders.”