Culture

Kitty Scott-Claus: “Being an individual is what makes you incredible”

By Kira Richards

23rd September 2022

Kitty Scott-Claus opened up about her experience of not fitting in, finding her community and the importance of queer storytellers.

The Drag Race superstar talked about the personal significance of ‘The Little Mermaid’ during an appearance on Queerpiphany with Tayce and Munroe Bergdorf.

The award-nominated digital series sees the two hosts sit down with a number of LGBTQ+ stars to discuss the iconic pop culture moments that shaped their queer experiences.

Kitty stressed the importance of having queer stories represented across the board.

“I resonated with the story of The Little Mermaid when I was a child and even though I was a queer child, I didn’t know I was. I just thought, well, this is the way it is,” she explained.

“I’m sure when the film came out they weren’t aware that it was a queer story and that it was built on a queer everything. One of the main characters is based on Divine, you can’t get more queer than that and people still didn’t get it.”

The 30-year-old added that stories with queer characters aren’t just for LGBTQ+ people, they’re for everyone.

She stated: “I think it’s just so important to get queer stories out there and for people to realise we are the same as everyone else.”

“I want us to live in a world where queer storylines can be told and embrace all their queerness, they shouldn’t be queer coded, it should be: this is the truth. Because the thing is it’s a story for everyone, it’s not just for queer people, it’s a universal story that everyone will relate to.”

Following the announcement of a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring singer Halle Bailey, Kitty discussed the importance of inspiring representation and self-acceptance.

“It’s embracing your queerness, embracing the fact that you are an individual and being an individual is what makes you incredible and special and it’s what makes you, you,” she said.

“And, also, because it’s being remade now with Halle Bailey as Ariel just think about how many young, queer people of colour this is going to inspire… Ariel was such a big inspiration for me, hopefully it can be that to numerous other people.”

The Drag Race UK season three alum noticed a resemblance in her and Ariel’s experiences: “I remember being absolutely obsessed with Ariel when I was growing up, I was always so about Ariel and then thinking ‘okay I feel different from my siblings,’ I don’t want what they want.”

“Then growing up, realising, wow, okay, I’m queer, I am a gay man. And then I realised the parallels that Ariel was going through as being under the sea and wanting to be on the land, wanting to be up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun!”

Throughout her journey to becoming who she is today, Kitty Scott-Claus was certain she’d find her community: “As a teenager my whole goal in life was to get to London, I was like, ‘I know that when I’m going to get to London, it’s all going to work out’ and thank god it did!”

She shared that the original 1989 Disney film provided “hope” that she would meet people with similar experiences to hers.

“I knew – okay, out there, there is gonna be a world for me and a community that I don’t even know that I’m a member of, I don’t even know that I’m a queen of! But it’s all out there and I think that’s what so incredible about the queer community that it’s just so welcoming and it is for everybody,” she reflected.

“It’s not just for the gays, or the Bs or the Ls, it’s for the Ts, it’s for the Qs, it’s for the I, A, the pluses, it’s for absolutely everyone.”

Watch Kitty’s full episode of Queerpiphany below or by clicking here. New episodes drop every Thursday at 2pm GMT.