RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under To Premiere on May 1
The wait is finally over. The date for the premiere of the much-awaited RuPaul’s Drag Race Under edition has been announced.
Season 1 of the show will drop on Saturday, May 1 on Stan in Australia, TVNZ in New Zealand and WOWPresentsPlus in the US.
RuPaul will host the Down Under edition of the show. Joining him on the judges’ panel will be BFF/singer/TV host Michelle Visage and Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson. Like other editions, celebrity judges are likely to join the panel that will judge the 10 drag queens from Australia and New Zealand to crown the winner.
Save the date, Racers!
The Stan Original Series RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under will premiere Saturday May 1, only on Stan. #StanOriginals #DragRaceDownUnder pic.twitter.com/buRPBt6KKh— Stan. (@StanAustralia) April 7, 2021
Judges Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson had revealed the Drag race Down Under Cast at the Mardi Gras parade on March 6, 2021.
The 10 Drag queens who will be part of the first season are First Nations drag queen JoJo Zaho, Karen From Finance, Coco Jumbo, non-binary drag artist, Etecetera Etcetera, Maxi Shield, Art Simone, Scarlet Adams and New Zealand queens Elektra Shock, Anita Wigl’it and Kita Mean.
NZ queen Elektra Shock, posted about the premiere date on Twitter, while asking fans to not to send hate to any of the queens. In recent times, some of the drag queens and even judges on the various editions of the show have faced hate from rival fans on social media.
“Make sure to watch and not send hate to anyone! Racers, start your engines, and may the best drag queen win,” said Elektra Shock.
I'm so excited to announce that Drag Race Down Under will be premiering on #WOWPresentsPlus in the U.S, @TVNZ in New Zeland, and @StanAustralia in Australia on May 1st! Make sure to watch and not send hate to anyone! Racers, start your engines, and may the best drag queen win! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/SLHaXgxbwH
— Elektra Shock ⚡ (@elektrashocknz) April 7, 2021
Racism Allegations
The Down Under edition of the show has already found itself in controversy after the discovery of racist performances as well as social media posts of some of the queens.
Scarlet Adams had to apologise after photos surfaced of the drag queen wearing a slew of insensitive costumes, including a Native American headdress, a burqa, dressing up as a Bollywood star, and multiple instances of yellowface and blackface. One particularly shocking photo showed Adams in blackface with two teeth blacked out, and wearing an Aboriginal flag shirt. The photo was part of a performance on Invasion Day in 2012.
Two Perth queer clubs that hosted some of the racist performances had to apologise as well.
Another queen, Karen From Finance had to apologise after people noticed she had a golliwog doll tattoo, a piece she claimed she got done because of her collection of the toys. The golliwog portrayed as a child’s rag doll is considered a racist caricature of Black people.
Check out our profiles of other RuPaul Race Down Under Queens
