“I was never dumb enough to think I would be invited back for All Stars, but to openly punish me for being honest about a situation that happened with me after four years of silence is disgusting and shameful.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Pearl has released a video addressing her comments about RuPaul on Hey Qween.
Last week, the season seven finalist spilled the T on their frosty relationship, and recalled an off-camera moment that ‘broke her spirit’ and caused her to be so blasé on the show.
“I turned to RuPaul and said, ‘Oh my god, thank you so much. It’s such a honour to be here, such a pleasure to meet you, you have no idea.’ Just giving her everything I ever wanted to say to her,” she remembered.
“She turned to me and she said: ‘Nothing you say matters unless that camera is rolling.’
“That broke my spirit, and that is the reason why I had one foot in and foot out the entire time I was on that show. It was so heartbreaking because I idolised her. I felt like it was just so disrespectful.”
Related: We asked 7 Drag Race queens about RuPaul’s “heartbreaking” comments towards RuPaul.
Pearl has now uploaded a seven minute video, in which she calls out news outlets for being “incredibly over-dramatised and exaggerated”.
She explained that she didn’t intend to go into the interview and bring up the situation, but hopes future contestants don’t have the same experience. “If it does happen to them, just know what to expect and to not take it as personally as I did and let it affect their time on the show.”
The performer also told her followers to not harass RuPaul on social media, because the Drag Race host is “not gonna change” and is the kind of person who doesn’t have “anything to gain, lose or learn in this world”.
Pearl continued: “That was not the only negative experience I had on set. It’s not just me. I’ve had conversations with multiple queens, off the record, just me and them, that went through the exact same thing.
“The reality is, if anything like this happened in any normal work environment – where there is a mutual respect – there would be major repercussions for the way she mistreats people on the set.”
She then revealed that she’s been banned from ever appearing on the show in the future.
“If you wanna know the real T, I had a producer from RuPaul’s Drag Race call me after the interview aired and guaranteed me that I would never come back and do All Stars.
“Now, I was never dumb enough to think I would be invited back for All Stars, and I was definitely not gunning for it at all, but to openly punish me for being honest about a situation that happened with me after four years of silence, is disgusting and shameful.
Related: This is the rumoured cast for Drag Race All Stars 4.
“This narrative about how we, Drag Race contestants, owe our lives to RuPaul’s Drag Race, that needs to completely change.
“I’m very sorry to inform you, but I’m finally at the place in my life where I am confident enough to know that I would have been somebody with or without Drag Race.”
Pearl then mentioned how toxic the fandom can be towards contestants who don’t go far in the competition.
“Or the ones who quit drag altogether? Or the ones who are reduced to ‘who?’ by you guys online because they haven’t reached a level of success that you expect?”
Watch the entire video below:
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