- Oh my God, what's going on, hello! - Hi, how are you?
- Whoa. - (judge) Ooh, you go girl!
- (laughs) Whoa. - (judge) Mr. T starter kit.
- It's not like that.
♪ (punk rock intro) ♪
- (FBE) So today you'll be reacting to various clips
from the reality show series RuPaul's Drag Race.
- RuPaul's Drag Race, what is that?
- It's a bunch of guys dressing up in drag,
and isn't it like a competition?
- I love Drag Race!
I've been watching since I think, season six.
I just went to DragCon this year, and it was so much fun!
- Oh my God, hell yeah. Hell yeah, hell yeah.
I [bleep] love this show!
There's just so much life
and the art of drag itself is just so beautiful.
- (FBE) The show documents the search
for America's next drag queen superstar.
So you won't be reacting to this alone.
- Oh, okay.
- (FBE) This is not a contestant from the show,
but today's episode is Teens and Queens React to Drag Race.
So here we have Pickle the drag queen.
- Hi! - Whoa.
- Good morning! - Hello.
- (Pickle) How are you? - Good, how are you?
- (FBE) So here we have Barbie's ADDICTION
here to react to this with you.
- Oh my God, what's going on, hello! - Hi, how are you?
Nice to meet you.
- (FBE) We have drag queen Kornbread here today.
- Hi! - What's up?
- I'm Christina, nice to meet you! - (Kornbread) Hi Christina, Kornbread!
- I wanna hug you! - (Kornbread) What's up?
- Oh my gosh, hello! - Hi, how are you?
Kornbread, bring it in, we hug around here, girl.
- Oh my God, hi!
- Hi, nice to meet you, how are you? - You look stunning!
- Thank you. - Hi, how are you?
Nice to meet you, I'm Jeremiah. - Pickle so nice to meet you Jeremiah!
How are you doing today?
- I'm doing wonderful now that you came in.
- Oh wow, such a charmer, watch out.
- I was not expecting this at all. This is crazy.
- I've never met a drag queen.
- Well, cross that off your bucket list.
- First for everything, I know!
- This is the first time. - Are you scared?
- No. - I've never seen anything on it.
- You've never heard of it? - I've heard of it, I think.
But I've just never... - Really, where are you from?
- I'm from a hole in the ground.
- (host) Vanessa Vanjie Mateo.
- Oh Vanjie. Miss Vanjie!
- Ooh. - Yes, that's my friend!
- Really? - Yes!
- I love it!
- Whoa. - (judge) Ooh you go girl.
- (judge) Mr. T. starter kit. - (laughs) Whoa.
- It's not like that. - (judge) We'll start with the cape.
- It's really interesting.
I've never actually watched a show like this before.
- (host) Brooke Lynn Hytes.
- Okay, I think I've seen memes on this.
- Oh yes, wait til you see this.
Boom, yes! (crowd cheers)
- Oh, oh! I was not expecting that.
- Oh yeah yeah, I remember that. - You remember that?
- She came out, she did a whole thing. - She gagged 'em all on this one,
that was cute. - (host) Yvie Oddly, Leo.
- Yes, Miss Yvie.
- This was one of my favorite looks from Yvie Oddly.
- Yeah, it looked really cool. - It was so inventive.
- Yes, Nina West, you like Nina?
- Yeah, Nina's pretty sweet.
- I'm a Nina fan too, yeah she's sweet.
- I'm sorry, this look just does not come together for me.
- (host) Inspired by the legendary... - Mario?
- Yeah, Little Shop of Horrors. - What is that?
- Feed me Seymour.
You're too young. (laughs) - Yeah.
- Have you seen Little Shop of Horrors?
- What? - Nevermind.
- That's not me. - (laughs) I didn't think it was.
- (Silky) I am doing an homage to black cinema.
- I don't love this look, I'm just gonna say that.
- No, it's not my favorite. I don't think it's
her favorite either. - I'm just gonna say it.
- (Silky) Don't you bring Miss Evelyn no bad news.
- They know how to frickin' work it.
Like, somebody needs to teach Kendall Jenner how to do this.
- Those are all wigs, right? - The entrance, yeah,
those are all wigs. Some of them wear rigs.
Silky actually has like her hair, and she sometimes attaches it.
- Oh! - Like, stuff to it,
and then sometimes she wears her normal hair, and puts, yeah.
- I love the concept of RuPaul's Drag Race.
You have to have it all,
and the runway is where you get to show it off.
You get to show off your fashion sense but you also get to perform.
- How long does it take?
It seems like it takes a long time.
- Yeah, like a few hours, I like to give myself a few hours.
I'm like the most antsy person ever, so I try to get it done a lot sooner.
- (RuPaul) So today, you'll be stealing the spotlight
in one of my favorite mini-challenges.
- Were those the drag queens without the makeup?
They look completely different.
- (RuPaul) The celebrity photo bomb.
- Oh. - Yes.
- (RuPaul) Alright, first up, Nina West.
You're gonna be photobombing...
- Oh, I watched this episode, I love this.
- (laughs) It's a good one.
- (RuPaul) Photobombing Cardi B at the VMAs.
- Oh my gosh.
- (Nina) I am the long lost second cousin SennyHe.
- (RuPaul) Senny-who? - (Nina) Senny-hey?
- (RuPaul) Senny-what?
- Oh my.
(both laugh)
- Yes! [bleep]
- Oh, that's, oh wow! - That's a moment.
- (RuPaul) Say queen!
- Silky oh my God.
- (RuPaul) Tom Brady making a pass. - Is that throw a football?
- These are so random.
- (Silky) Silky sometimes bring out the hoe out in me.
- (laughs) Same sis.
- (laughs) Oh my word.
- (RuPaul) Ain't no deflate gate going on here, girl.
You're not modest at all.
Oh wait, oh you gonna show more?
- Oh! - Ah!
- Oh take it. - Oh my God!
- Take it off sistren!
- No limits. - No.
- None. - None at all.
Girl... - The editing on that is great.
- This is so interesting. Why have I never watched this?
- The catch caught me off guard, everything's catching me off guard.
I'm just like, oh maybe they'll do this.
No, they're doing something completely different.
- That was extreme, but I loved it.
They were just being theirselves and being creative,
and they didn't really care.
It was just funny.
- Seeing body positivity pushed on the show.
For them to show that entire scene, of her just like taking it all off,
and not being society's perfection. - Right, right.
- It makes me happy to see that,
as representation not for just drag queens,
but for people of all shapes and sizes.
- Everybody. - To just love who they are.
- (Nina) I was openly gay in college, and I ran for student government.
And so this underground hate group that was on our...
- Oh my gosh. - (Nina) Conservative college campus.
- Mmhmm. - I remember this part.
- (Nina) Took it upon themselves to harass me,
to break into my dorm room. - Wow.
- (Nina) To threaten my life... - So sad.
- (Nina) ...that they were gonna kill me.
- I remember watching this.
This was like so crazy to really think about.
- To actually hear that this was happening, yeah.
- Right.
- (Nina) There's a voice distortion message on my phone
that said you dirty [bleep], we're going to kill you.
- Oh my God. - People are crazy.
- That would be so scary.
- (Nina) One of my students came and knocked on the door,
and said someone's trying to break into the building.
- That's scary.
- (Nina) And I picked up the phone, and it was that distorted voice,
saying we're getting inside, we're about to get you.
- Just gave me chills. - Yeah.
- (Nina) I had to move out of my dorm room,
and move into an all girls dorm, and basically hide for two weeks,
until they found the person. - Geez.
That's messed up.
- I don't know how people have that much hate in their heart
for something like that, you know?
- (Nina) This is why I'm involved in gay rights issues,
because I don't want anyone to ever feel that way that I felt.
That I was suicidal, or that I wasn't good enough.
- It's so heartbreaking. - So sad.
- (Nina) That's why I do what I do.
I never want anyone to feel that way.
- Dude, that's like so messed up.
Just let people do whatever the hell they want to do.
- I know. If only it was that easy, right?
- I know!
- Nina's moment, I think it's, I think it was really important
for people to see that. It just shows that
everyone has a story everyone came from something
or somewhere, whether it be good or bad or ugly.
I mean, we all have a story.
Her sharing that, I mean, could open the door
for someone that literally has the exact same thing
happening to them right now.
- (RuPaul) The time has come. You should lip sync
for your life. - Life! (laughs)
- ♪ Now I'm out here looking like revenge ♪
- How do you determine who's a good lip syncer or not?
- ♪ And yeah I know ♪ ♪ How bad it must hurt ♪
♪ To see me like this ♪
- This is one of my favorite lip syncs - Oh my gosh.
- So good.
- ♪ Now payback is a bad chick ♪ ♪ And baby, I'm the baddest ♪
♪ You playin' with a savage ♪
- That's unique. (laughs) - Very.
- ♪ And it'd be nice of me ♪ ♪ To take it easy on ya, but nah ♪
♪ Baby I'm sorry ♪
- Oh, okay. - Oh!
- Yes. - Wig off.
- We got wig... - Wait, the reveal!
- Oh!
Her, oh there's more hair under the hair!
- (laughs) It is!
- ♪ Baby, I'm the baddest ♪ - Yeah!
- Vanjie, "come on!" - Right you hear her loud in the back.
- (RuPaul) Shantay, you both stay. (judges cheering)
- They both stay? That's a thing?
- RuPaul refuses to make any challenging decisions.
- Oh man.
- I can definitely see how people like it a lot.
'Cause there's everything everyone wants.
There's drama, challenges, and people going home crying,
and people winning.
- I love this show so much, because it's like,
it's representing a culture that isn't...
Like that's somewhat still under represented,
and it's just so amazing to see it actually take off now.
- (FBE) So before we dive into some questions,
before today, had you ever met a drag queen before?
- I have not.
- This is my first time actually. - No, never.
- I have never met a drag queen before.
It's my first time.
- Yes, because when I went to DragCon, I went to both panels,
and then I also talked to a bunch of drag queens.
- Yeah, I love drag. I love watching it.
I love people living. I think that's just so amazing.
- (FBE) Is there anything you wanna ask Pickle the drag queen?
- Is that hair glued on to you?
- I can't reveal my secrets!
It's just sitting on my head. - Oh.
- Like a dead animal. - Oh and why aren't you wearing shoes?
- So how'd you start?
- I started while I was working at a desk job
for a theater company.
I have friends that do drag, and I'd always go support drag
and watch it, and then I walked into work one day,
and I was just over my job, I talked on the phone,
and I told my boss hey girl, I quit and I'm gonna try drag.
Ever since then, it just snowballed, and I've worked every week since then
on strictly drag, so I don't have my normal job any more.
- Nine to five, oh how fun! - I actually perform now too.
Yeah, it's worth it.
- What does doing drag mean for you?
- I'm really introverted in my normal day life,
so it's a way for me to extrovert myself,
and be another person, you know?
Kinda like putting on a Superman outfit.
- What drove you to do drag?
- When you're an artist, and you're trying different things,
it's like you know, you find a medium that really works for you,
and I tried drag for the first time, I just loved it so much,
I didn't wanna stop.
So like, I love making people laugh, I love entertaining, I love singing.
I love costumes.
- Do you just like, go to the grocery store
dressed like this? - Not generally.
I personally don't do drag unless I'm working or performing,
but that's just my preference.
Although sometimes I'll have two jobs,
and I need to go to the grocery store in between.
- Yeah. - And I'll go,
and it's a trip.
- When you knew you were gay, and when you came out,
and then when you started exploring drag?
- I was like probably 16 or 17, and I had gone to
a summer dance program in San Francisco.
- It starts with the arts. - My first time being in San Francisco
'cause in Colorado, I was like ugh, I don't know,
the boys here aren't that cute.
- Mm-mm, crusty. - But you go to San Francisco
for the first time by yourself at 17 years old,
maybe a little gay kid, I was like oh yes, I'm definitely gay.
- What was it like to first, kind of announce that sort of thing?
- I am very fortunate, I think,
that I come from a very accepting family,
a very warm environment. My dad was like
"are you gonna make any money doing that?" (laughs)
I was like we'll see.
What's challenging about starting drag or what was challenging for me
was like, it does take a lot of grappling with gender
and how that works, and kind of coming to understand
that like gender is not as strict as we think.
It has helped me be more empathetic and relate to people more.
- That's cool, that comes, sort of an understanding with it.
- Yeah, and I get to entertain for a living.
- I was not out when I was back South Carolina.
It took time, but I wasn't, I didn't come out
until I came here, then I told my oldest brother.
I changed my name on Facebook to Kornbread.
They didn't know I was doing drag yet. I didn't say anything.
And then one day, I don't know what was happening,
I think I was watching Drag Race, probably,
it probably happened on Drag Race, I watched a monumental moment,
and I was like okay girl, you know what, this is it.
I said I may lose a lot of people from this,
but I'm a drag queen, and y'all just gotta deal with it.
First thing that happened, my middle brother,
who I was scared of sharing it with was the first person to share my post
of me in drag and was like "Oh, my brother's living his life."
And then he called me, he was like I'm so happy for you,
I'm proud of you, and literally, I can't post something
without two seconds later him sharing it,
and my entire family's obsessed.
They support my career more than anything.
- That's so cool. - Yeah.
I still make them buy my merchandise though,
'cause there ain't no freebies around here.
- (FBE) So back to the show, RuPaul's Drag Race
is credited as helping bring drag to a more mainstream audience.
How have you seen the show impact your career at all?
- Um, in positive and negative ways.
You know, because of the show, now more people know about drag queens
and about drag, so more people want in.
Then there's also some downfalls, because a lot of queens
don't get certain opportunities if they're not on Drag Race.
- I used to sneak and watch Drag Race and drag stuff when I was younger.
It was not that open, and there was not that many drag shows
out there in the world.
Now, with Drag Race and everything,
there's a lot of shows that are happening.
It just teaches you that what you're going through,
there's a way around it. There's a way to push through it.
Drag Race has helped me concept-wise be more creative,
and try and do things.
- (FBE) What is a misconception that people have
surrounding drag culture and drag queens in general?
- Um, just that you know, if you're a drag queen,
you're a sissy, you're not a dude.
You're not a man.
- Embracing your femininity
and expressing a different part of yourself.
- Yeah! - It's a creative outlet.
- The most common misconception surrounding drag that I can think of
is that people think that what they see is all of it.
In drag culture, you know, it's like when you see a Pickle show,
it's different from when you see another show.
Like a Kornbread show or Barbie's ADDICTION show.
We all do different things.
- I didn't know there was that much variety.
I just kinda thought it was all the same thing,
where they would just like walk on the stage,
and then if you do your thing, you win.
I don't know. - I love that.
- (FBE) So we gotta ask, Jeremiah.
Could you ever seen yourself wanting to experiment in drag?
- Uh, it's not my sort of thing, but if anybody else were to do it,
I don't have a problem with it, you know, I think it's interesting,
and it's really cool.
- If I paid you $1,000, would you let someone put you in drag?
- Probably. - Yeah, he's like $1,000,
give me $50. - Yeah! (laughs)
- You have the hair for it. - I know my hair is long,
but I mean, nah. That's just not me.
- No, no, that's not me. - What if we paid you $1,000.
- I'm cool. I'm cool, it's not my thing.
- $20,000. - Maybe.
- I have before, but then like, I just don't like makeup on my face,
it's just so heavy. - Oh, it's a lot.
Oh, it's much.
- I don't think I have the talent to do the makeup,
but if someone wants to come help me, I'd be down.
It sounds like such a fun moment just to like live your best self.
- You let me know, we can do it.
- (FBE) What was the experience like today,
getting to meet Pickle the drag queen?
- Different, I liked it though. - It was pretty cool.
I didn't really know anything about this kind of culture.
It was like, I definitely learned a lot.
- It was so nice and informative, and it really makes me want to
go to a drag show now. - Yes!
- I was mentioning, I'm so curious to go to an actual drag show.
- You need to come. - This was so fun.
I learned so much, I feel so educated in the drag world.
I'm ready to go to a drag show now.
- I never thought about drag until now and now I'm wanting
to look more into it, and thank you
for sharing your experience and everything.
- Thank you. So nice to meet you too.
I've never met a human teenager, so this is a really good experience.
- This is just a different world
that I've kinda not been like shielded from,
but I've never seen before,
so it was really interesting to take a peek,
and meet this wonderful human being.
- Just wanna warn you, that like not all drag queens
are this beautiful. (both laugh)
- Thanks for watching this episode... - Of Teens and Queens React.
- Subscribe! - So you never miss an episode.
- (both) Thanks for watching! Bye!
- Hi guys, JC here, producer at FBE.
Big thanks to Kornbread Jete, Pickle the drag queen,
and Barbie's ADDICTION, for taking the time
and shooting this episode with us.
Make sure to check out their social media links
down in the description below.
Thanks guys, bye!