“I felt completely disregarded. I didn’t feel acknowledged. I didn’t feel wanted.”
Drag Race star Gia Gunn has revealed that she confronted RuPaul about the controversial comments he made about trans contestants earlier this year.
Back in March, RuPaul said that he “probably” wouldn’t let a post-transition woman compete on the Emmy Award winning series.
In an interview with The Guardian, he said: “Drag loses its sense of danger and its sense of irony once it’s not men doing it, because at its core it’s a social statement and a big f-you to male-dominated culture.
“So for men to do it, it’s really punk rock, because it’s a real rejection of masculinity.”
When asked if he would let a fully transition queen compete, he said it wasn’t likely.
“Probably not. You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body.
“It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing. We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned.”
During a recent appearance on Alaska and Willam’s podcast, Race Chaser, Willam asked Gia if she “had any words” with RuPaul about his remarks during her time on All Stars 4.
Gia responded: “Well, I did. Of course, it wasn’t aired. I very well knew that none of that was going to air because the show is not about making her look anything but great.”
The fan-favourite contestant was eliminated in the third episode of the acclaimed series’ fourth season by fellow competitor Manila Luzon, and told Alaska and Willam that she felt like she wasn’t wanted in the competition.
“I felt completely disregarded,” she explained. “I didn’t feel acknowledged.
“Truthfully it really hurt my feelings and I had a really big breakdown in between sets and I was just like, “If I’m getting this feeling from her and I don’t feel very welcome then what the fuck am I doing here?”
“If we were going to bring somebody on the show to basically, you know, clean up somebody’s mess, obviously that fell on me, right?
“Because months before she had made a statement that was completely opposite of what they did. And I knew by being casted that I was going on there to basically show the world that this show does quote unquote support trans and that she does see trans people as drag queens.
“So for me to get there and for us to be on episode three, never have eye contact with her, never have any sort of acknowledgement of “oh, you’ve come so far” or “your journey has been so beautiful to watch” or anything of that sort. I just felt really hurt.”
Last week, Gia also slammed RuPaul during a performance, seemingly for his stance on trans queens. “Welcome to the world of drag that includes transgender,” she said.
“Fuck Miss RuPaul and her ignorant ass comments. We are coming into 2019. I’m tired of giving hoes credit when they don’t deserve it. Let me tell you guys who makes this whole thing go round: us queens and us as a community.”
The third episode of Drag Race All Stars 4 is now available to watch in the UK on NOW TV.
Related: Michelle Visage says trans women have “always been welcome” on Drag Race.
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