Emmy voters, engines on, it’s voting time. Before you cast your vote for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program, it’s time to send RuPaul’s Drag Race home with Emmy gold.
With an incredible 12 nominations, the show continues to shine and climb. The Season 10 premiere opened with Christina Aguilera as a guest judge (The Big Sick’s Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, Lena Dunham, Audra McDonald and Padma Lakshmi have all appeared on the show). An incredible 527,000 viewers later tuned in to see Aquaria be crowned the new Queen of the season.
This show shines the light, year after year, on drag queens shining the spotlight on the artistry, the creativity, and the talent. Each queen brings a story whether it’s about conversion therapy, HIV, AIDS, bullying, homophobia, eating disorders, or depression. There’s not one social issue the queens have not discussed or experienced and with that, under all the glam and glitter they bring their struggles, ones that we can all relate to. Its viewers feel empowered, they hear the Queens overcome the negativity, and it creates a community.
You only need to tune in to social media when an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race or RuPaul’s All-Stars is airing to see the show dominate social media. Take a minute to click on some of those profiles, not only do the viewers tune in from around the world, but they’re straight, cis-gender. They’re teenagers and adults. And they’re members of the LGTBQ community.
If you ever doubted its success, no other show in its category has generated a convention, think Comic-Con but RuPaul’s DragCon, and like the show, each year gets bigger and better.
This year, the 4th annual LA DragCon expanded to three days, the attendees were families, young girls, young boys, all ages, all ethnicities, all background. 50,000 people gathered at the LA Convention Center, sitting in on panels that discussed the importance of registering to vote in the upcoming mid-terms, social media bullying.
Next month, RuPaul’s DragCon is taking over New York for three days, already, the event has sold out. Not just at DragCon, but the Queens use their platforms to use their voices for positivity, aware that their voice can inspire change and affect change.
Our world and news seem dark, entertainment has always been the escape, RuPaul’s Drag Race does just that, it brings the hair, the makeup, the gowns, the lip syncs, the It’s about makeup, the dancing, and it brings the laughter.
Desmond Napoles AKA Desmond is Amazing is 11-years-old, an LGBTQ advocate and drag kid, appeared on the Kids RunWay at DragCon and said, “RuPaul’s Drag Race is so important in my life and millions of other young people’s lives. It serves as an inspiration for kids like me who like drag.” Desmond added, “When I first started dressing up, I was 2-years-old. I don’t think I saw RuPaul’s Drag Race until I was 4. I would be playing with my toys and my mom would be watching and I’d stop. I thought the Queen’s were so beautiful and amazing.”
As the dark cloud hangs over our country, entertainment has always been the escape, RuPaul’s Drag Race does just that, it brings the hair, the makeup, the gowns, the lip syncs, the It’s about makeup, the dancing, and it brings the laughter. It’s the most positive voice out there and most visible representation of drag culture there is, paving the way for its Queens and its audience to all things amazing.
Speaking at RuPaul’s DragCon earlier this year, World of Wonder founder Fenton Bailey said of the show’s political importance,”RuPaul has said, ‘Every time I bat my eyelashes it’s a political act’. As outrageous as it sounds, it is a political act. Paradoxically, I think that Trump and this regime of hatred and exclusion and hatred and bigotry has stimulated all of us on the other side to get noisier, more vocal and more visual.
So, I challenge you Emmy voters to Drag Up Your Vote and Vote for RuPaul’s Drag Race.