Trixie Mattel, Katya urge drag fans to go into politics: 'We don't need more drag queens'
Two former contestants on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” say young people who are interested in drag should instead consider a future in politics.
“We don’t need more drag queens,” Trixie Mattel, who appeared on the seventh season of the drag queen competition, told Teen Vogue in an interview published Friday.
“Stop right now and go into law,” Katya, a fellow former contestant on the show, which now airs on MTV, told the magazine. “Stop right now, put the wig down and pick up the gavel,” Katya said.
“We don’t need you at the club. We need you in this at the state house, in the Senate, and in the House of Representatives. Put the wig down and pick up the letter opener or whatever,” the performer added.
Promoting their WOW Presents Plus web series “UNHhhh,” Mattel slammed GOP-led, anti-drag show legislation being introduced around the country. Last week, the Kentucky Senate passed a bill that would ban drag performances on public property or in front of children. Earlier this month, Tennessee House lawmakers advanced a second bill aimed at criminalizing certain drag performances in the state.
“I want everybody to think about the fact that the government officials who you pay their bills, their taxes, this is what they’re using the time and money for,” said Mattel, who earlier this year made headlines after sparring with Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) on Twitter.
“I'm just gonna say what the truth is. Something like 3,500 kids a year get killed by gun violence; zero get killed by drag. Give me a f---ing break,” said Mattel, the season three winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars."
More than 6,000 children and young people were injured or killed by guns last year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit independent research group.
“Not to mention like, men put on dresses and f--- children at churches, not at drag shows,” Mattel said. “I mean, not all shows are kid appropriate. I don't want children at my shows. Not at all. But there shouldn't be a law about it.”
Lawmakers who are behind the anti-drag show legislation, Katya said, are “profoundly stupid,” calling it “extremely dangerous.”
“It’s the tired cliche of the person who’s doing the finger pointing is the person who is the most suspect,” Katya said.
“Like Trixie said, the people who are doing grooming behaviors are the church folk and the pastors and the religious people,” the entertainer added.
“Drag queens don’t care about anything other than themselves, like come on,” Katya said.
“You point a finger so people go, oh good, that’s the witch not me… We’re talking about a group of people where it’s never been about facts, so it’s not worth arguing because data, studies, none of that matters. Because at the end of the day, ‘but God, but this make-believe man.’ OK bitch, like whatever,” Mattel said.
“Nobody is trying to indoctrinate people into drag,” Mattel insisted. “I don’t want more drag queens. In fact, I want most of them to stop.”