- Now we're gonna talk about boys, boys, boys.
- The one time in my life I tried to pretend
to be a top I met this boy
and as we're going at it he turns around
and he goes, I can't believe I'm getting fucked
by Ginger Minj.
It turned into an innie, it tucked itself
and I was like, you have to go.
(upbeat music)
- Hi guys.
How's it going, it's Shea Couleé
and I'm here with Billboard Pride and we are
spillin' the tea.
Alright, ladies so now I know most of us
have been watching season 10.
My Chicago sister, The Vixen, she has brought up
a subject that hasn't really been talked about yet
and that is the racism that exists
within the ‘Drag Race' fandom.
And so I just want to toss out,
I'll toss it out to you first Jasmine
about what your experiences are and we can talk about that
and then maybe just open up the floor for like
a cute little dialogue.
- Well, for my own self I don't read social media,
so everything that I was told I was getting was
third party people information,
but I did see the postings and everything.
Me, myself I kinda started that whole situation
because I knew it was gonna come towards me regardless
so why wait on it when it's gonna come to me.
So I went on Twitter and I said,
oh now I'm getting this and now I'm getting that.
Then it all started pouring in.
But honestly, I just feel like
if you don't like somebody don't waste your time on them.
Life is too short to do that.
So while you telling me a lot of negative stuff
it's not doing anything to me, it's not bringing me down
cause I'm a strong person.
I already know who I am and who I was and all that.
But I just think it needs to stop cause it's not even
worth it because if you push somebody to the limit
to where they commit suicide
and the FBI and the police are looking
you're labeled as a murderer.
So I do wanna press charges on your ass
if you kill one of my members for being
a bully on social media.
But it's fucked up.
- It's really crazy.
And as someone, a black, queen who was fortunate
to have a lot of great support from the ‘Drag Race' fandom
there is a different side of that token
where I was the target of a lot of race based hate,
and the thing that's really difficult about that
is I think that for us on the outside world
it's already so nasty, and it's already hard
and we're marginalized people especially
in the LGBT community and sometimes it's really difficult
and challenging when you feel like you're getting hate
from people within your own community because you want
to have everyone lift you up, you know,
and help build you up,
and I think one thing that is really great about
what has happened with Vixen is that,
you may disagree with the things that she says,
she's a really polarizing person,
but the thing that's great about polarizing people
is that they create dialogue, you know racism
it's one of those things that is really knit into
the fabric of our society,
and the only way that we can make it better
is by slowly pulling those threads out, you know?
And unveiling the nastiness and mending it
but I think with my girl, Vixen what has people shook
is that she's not like, going at it like she's a tailor
she's ripping those seams like anarchist.
- And I believe, what you said was,
you may not agree with what she says.
I agree with everything she says
sometimes I don't agree with the way that she says it
but I think that there's a valid point
in everything that she brings up.
- It's very, it's a valid point.
- Oh go ahead, no. Do you want to say something?
- Well I was gonna ask, and I don't wanna put the
burden of education on you, but you know,
when you looked at your sisters in that season,
in your season.
Is there something that they could have done
that you would have wanted them to do to support you
when you were receiving racist comments
and hatred in that way?
Or would you rather that they just held back
and, you know, just let it be your thing?
- I think being an ally is really important.
I think it's really important to step up,
you know as a person who may have certain
inherent privileges.
I think that no one likes to be called a racist, you know.
And my thing is the best way to educate people
from my perspective, is it's kind of like inception.
You have to get them to come around
and have like a realization for themselves, you know?
And I think it's a lot easier when they have
like minded people.
When I say an ally or a white person speaking out
to other white people
you're instantly connected because it's someone
with similar experiences.
The same way like two black people can communicate
in a way that feels really easy.
It's the same thing so being an ally as a white queen
it is helpful to us to always speak up
and be like--
- No that ain't right.
So tell me this.
How can the fans help us out, and help the world out
you know with all this racism and stuff
but at different minorities in our community?
- Well, I don't know.
I have an opinion to say in general
just because I feel like for me specifically
obviously me and The Vixen have maybe personal issues
clicking with each other, which has noting to do with race
but of course immediately the fandom goes straight
to it being a racial issue.
Which is not fair to either side.
First of all I support The Vixen
in everything she represents.
I've even commented on posts of hers regardless
of maybe us not getting along she is a fighter
and I don't think that she is a fighter
as far as poke the bear.
I think she's a fighter as a part of,
she wants to represent a piece of her community
that she feels like a lot of people are afraid
to stand up and represent it,
and she's not afraid to fight in a poke the bear way
to make sure that she gets her point across.
- Well, let me tell you, oh sorry.
- Oh no I just have one more thing to add.
Me coming from, I come from East Tennessee,
a very southern, small town back woods hick place
where I was taught ever since I was little
to look at people a certain way
including their color, their gender,
their sexual orientation, everything and I had
to fight that stereotype my whole life
but I find myself even now coming into the bigger city
montage, you for example even season nine
including the Vixen, different people have taught me
to educate myself more
so that I'm also more intelligent about the fact that
the smallest things can be considered maybe racist
or hurtful to a minority that we don't even realize.
So I think the smartest way about it,
don't automatically push someone down because they're
fighting for something they believe.
Educate yourself on it first
and then give your opinion.
- Good allies listen.
- Just like Eureka, I was born and raised
in a very small southern town that teaches you
a certain mindset, and it's up to you to pull yourself
out of that.
- And what really opened my eyes to that
- You get it beat into you.
- was on season seven, you know Kennedy and I
we went the entire journey together.
We spent that time together.
We made a lot of the same mistakes together
and shard a lot of the same successes,
but looking at social media, yes I got hate
I got plenty of hate.
But looking at her getting a hundred times more hate
than I got for the same exact situation
was really eye opening to me.
And it made me realize, it doesn't matter if you are
a fat homosexual cross dresser, like you are still
privileged and you still are elevated to a certain level
without even trying and that kind of hurt my spirit
a little bit.
- Cause see like, for instance like,
the things that I say
and the things that Bianca say.
Like our talking and our speaking to people
is totally different, like she will rip somebody
to shreds off the bat.
I will bring up topics and just go from there.
And I'm like, we're different but our mouths
are pretty much the same.
But she would get praised, but me I was,
oh you putting down this person,
oh you putting down that race.
No, I'm like everybody breath stink.
you know what I mean?
You wake your ass up bitch your breath stink.
Everybody wiff of that before so it's just always been
a pull and take with, you know.
- I think there's definitely a bias on many levels for that.
One for certain it's obviously color.
I can't say that I can relate in any way to the color
of my skin being a judgment from people
but obviously I've experienced sizeism,
I've experienced homophobia and other things.
But then to also have to defend something that
you definitely can't control
and it's the hugest appearance on your body, you know.
My heart goes out to all of my people of color in the world
you know because it's a hard road to live.
I've learned that maybe more so in the last like
couple of years than ever before.
And I'm just honored to have amazing people like you
and for me even The Vixen is incredible to me
and I appreciate her because she showed me to
educate myself.
- And now with our new regime we see all of the
confederate flags everywhere.
I do where I'm at in Texas and we used to never
see that stuff, and now we see that kind of crap.
And I asked at Drag Con last time I asked the kids
when I'd hear an accent, something in their voice,
you know a tone if they're from the south.
I said, are you seeing this?
And they'd say, yes they're seeing the confederate flags
and different things like that.
And this has got to change, it's good that it's in our face
but it has got to change, it's unfair.
- I think it's sad.
Like, we're the people who have the ability to really
change it cause like, drag is you know, it's punk.
- It aint', it ain't because for instance like on my season
I didn't get nobody saying, oh girl, I'm here with you
while I'm getting all that hate,
me and Kennedy went through that together.
I didn't get nobody from none of the girls
on the season.
Not putting you down cause me and you did talk.
- We talked about it, but it was also after I realized
what was going on because I didn't even understand it
till I saw it in black and white.
- I think another thing is that sometimes
the thing that makes it uncomfortable I think
for someone that is born into white privilege
is that we don't know sometimes where we can
overstep that boundary of defense for our friends
of color because it can be a hard thing to like--
- It's scary sometimes.
- It's vulnerable for us too in a different way weirdly.
I mean I literally, my dad beat my ass
because I kissed a black kid at school,
and it didn't matter that he was a boy,
it mattered of the color of his skin.
You know what I'm saying?
That's the way some people in our world are raised
and it's not fair.
- Well I think we've like, touched on
some like really amazing topics.
And like I think have put some really good ideas
out there to help us be more inclusive in this community.
So that's all the time that we have for this segment
so yes.
- We have so much more to talk about.
(laughing)
- Thank you guys so much.
Thanks for tuning in to Spillin' the Tea at Billboard Pride.
Shablam.
- My name's Eureka.
- We're both fat, it's fine.
You think all fat people look alike?
Sizeist.