- [Eugene] When you think of drag, or drag queen
or Drag Race, what do you think of?
- Mmhmm.
Big boobs?
- Yeah, big boobs.
- Uh huh. - Singing. Do they sing?
- [Eugene] Sometimes. - Yeah.
- So, my father, I invited him to go to a drag show
in Austin when I was visiting.
- How was that?
- Um.
- You're gonna purposely go to - Right.
a gay bar in Austin - Right.
with your son - Right.
to see drag queens. - Right.
- Great.
(peppy rock music)
- Hi, I'm Eugene.
- Hi, my name is Sang.
I also go by Kim Chi.
I was on season eight of RuPaul's Drag Race.
I was in the top three.
- I was gonna say that you were robbed,
but I do love Bob.
- I was Bobbed.
(hearty laughter)
- I wanted to bring you here to talk about
what it's like to be a person of color
in the LGBT community.
- Perfect.
A lot of the fans that come out to see me
at my shows are majority Asian.
And during meet-and-greets, they'll tell me
stories about, you know, that they struggled
with their family, and they're like,
"I relate to you so much," which is really cool.
The entire country of Korea is very religious
and conservative, right?
- I was Presbyterian growing up.
- Were you? Me too. (laughs)
- Yeah, Korean Presbyterians!
What's up?
- Growing up, I grew up in a small town in Michigan.
After my parents separated, my mom raised us
just on her own by working as a server in a restaurant.
And, there were some Asian people there,
but it was mostly all white.
I never really had an Asian figure to look up to.
The only people that I knew in the media
were Sandra Oh and Margaret Cho.
And I felt like they were two polar opposites.
- Would you be the Margaret or the Sandra here?
- I'm definitely the Margaret here,
because my face is bigger.
(uproarious laughter)
- [Eugene] Alright, Dad.
- [Jae] Hi!
- [Eugene] Hi. We're here in Austin, Texas, at your home.
- Welcome home, Eugene.
- [Eugene] Thanks. My hometown.
- [Eugene] There may be a little bit of that.
We're gonna go to one of the Austin gay bars...
- Wow
- [Eugene] Tonight to watch the famous
drag queen revue there at Oilcan Harry's.
- [Eugene] Yes. (laughs)
- [Eugene] And you've never been in a gay bar, right?
- Oh, I went one time.
- [Eugene] Why?
- Washington, D.C.
We were walking through the town street.
We just went into some nightclub.
(club music plays)
I said...
- [Eugene] Oh!
(laughs) Was good looking?
- Yeah. - Still good looking.
- Thank you.
- [Eugene] Yeah, but that might happen tonight then.
- Oh!
- [Eugene] Well, there are scenes for everything, Dad.
He had actually never been to a bar since the 70s.
- [Kim Chi] Oh my God.
- [Eugene] He just hadn't been out.
Now it's gonna be for you, too,
'cause you're gonna go out.
- [Eugene] Yeah, from all the people who are gonna
hit on you, - Right.
- [Eugene] Because you're so handsome.
(hearty laughter)
- My dad asked what I was doing that night,
and then he just kind of looked at me for a longer second
and I said, "Do you want to come with me?"
And he said...
- "Okay, I think maybe."
So then he calls his girlfriend,
who's my stepmom, Brenda.
I say stepmom, because it's dumb to say,
"Dad's girlfriend" for over 10 years.
- Hot mama.
- [Eugene] My hot mama? (laughs)
She ain't Korean.
- Oh, I was gonna say, "Is her last name Song?"
- No, no, not Brenda Song.
Of course, my dad's with Brenda Song.
(loud laughter)
He's living that sweet life.
But they decided to throw caution to the wind
and come out with me.
Brenda, you've been to a drag show before, right?
- 90?
- No.
- 70?
(Jae laughs)
- He thought that when he was going there,
that he was gonna be tipping people.
His mind went to strip show.
- [Eugene] Oh God, Dad!
- [Eugene] (laughs) So embarrassing!
(group laughter)
No, Dad, you're just going to hand it to them.
- On the bra?
- [Eugene] No, no, not the boobs, either.
Just the hand, Dad. (laughs)
- Ohhh.
- Yeah, because I said...
- Make it rain!
- Yeah, because I told him to get dollar bills.
- Yeah.
- Because, always tip your queens.
- Yep.
- [Eugene] This is going to be way more tame than his job.
- [Eugene] Sure, Dad.
Okay, well, the bar's right there, right behind you.
I think that people don't talk about it as much.
As LGBT people, we sometimes forget
the people of color in that community.
Drag Race is a really interesting example
of where it comes out to the forefront.
- Yeah.
There's a lot of racial discussion on Drag Race.
- My only goal I wanted to show was
just to be authentic self and
then never play into the Asian stereotypes,
because that's not what I do.
- Yeah.
That's why we're sisters.
- (laughs) Sisters from another fister.
- Sisters with... (laughs)
Did you say, "From another fister?"
- Yep. - Ohhh.
Did you catch that?
Everyone catch that?
It's fisting, like when you...
- [Cameraman] We know.
(loud laughter)
(club music plays)
- Honestly, I wish...
- [Eugene] It's like, he's never been inside one, yeah.
- 1971.
- [Eugene] Oh God, yeah, this is his story.
- [Jae] Right.
(Eugene laughs)
- [Jae] Oh!
- [Eugene] Yeah, she's going to be performing.
Brenda, say hi.
- [Brenda] Hi!
- For you, I'm curious, what initially
brought you to drag?
- I'm an accidental drag queen.
- I just imagine you just like slipped one day.
- Yeah, it was just like, "Whoops, there's a dress!"
- There I am!
- [Kim Chi] So my best friend at the time, he was like,
And I was like, "Alright, I guess I could try it."
And then both of us ended up getting booked
for a show that night.
- Just wearing drag?
Someone was like, "Ha, she's beautiful darling,
"she'll make it big!"
- No, they were like, "You ladies look amazing."
"Do you want to do a show here?"
And we're like, "Okay!"
(loud laughter)
And then the promoter for that circuit party
asked me to be a host. (applause track plays)
And then I became their main host.
And then eventually I became their art director.
- Wow.
- And then soon after that, I was working
almost every night in drag.
I quit my serving job, I quit my graphic design job.
- So you were a graphic designer before that?
- Yeah.
So that's where the eye comes from,
your artistic eye.
(crowd cheers)
- One, two...
(crowd laughs)
- [Eugene] So you've traveled a lot to do drag.
- [Kim Chi] One of my favorite places
that I've ever been to is Taiwan.
Taiwan, they call it the hidden gay mecca,
'cause a lot of people don't know that they're
the first Asian country to legalize gay marriage.
- Damn, Taiwan.
- And obviously, I'm performing in Korea.
It's always my favorite.
The gays in Asia aren't as out and about, you know.
One thing I like about America is how lesbians
and gays, they all go to the gay bars, right?
But Korea, for example,
women aren't allowed to enter a gay club,
and men aren't allowed to enter a lesbian club.
- Really?
- Because they've had issues in the past,
where women will come into a gay club
and there will be a religious activist.
So then they'll take videos and pictures
of people that are in the club and out then online.
- Oh, wow.
(crowd cheers)
- Thank you, thank you, appreciate you.
(crowd screams)
Thank you, I appreciate that.
- When I talk about being a person of color
in the queer community,
with some stricter family elements.
A lot of people who can equate have religious backgrounds.
- [Kim Chi] Yep.
- You know, this sort of "hush, hush."
"Don't talk about it."
I've had a lot of friends who've had to either
leave their families or were disowned,
because of things like religion.
So it's a very sensitive topic for a lot of people.
I know on Drag Race you brought up talking about your mom,
and she didn't know that you were a drag queen.
- So, my family grew up very poor.
Working as a server in a tiny Korean restaurant in Michigan,
you don't really make a lot of money.
So then after I made it onto RuPaul's Drag Race,
I sent her a good sum amount of money.
And then she was suspicious.
So she googled my email that I sent the money through.
- [Eugene] Oh, so she saw this beautiful woman pop up.
- Yeah. (laughs)
I'm sure she probably freaked out,
because she'd never seen
anything like that in her life, you know.
So then she calls me and the first thing she asks is,
"So, how much money do you make doing this?"
- Right.
- And I told her, and she was like,
"You know what, I fully support you."
"Keep living your dream." (laughs)
"Do whatever you want to do."
- They see happiness maybe being equated to also
how comfortable you are.
- Comfortable and financial stability.
- If they see that I'm doing well for myself,
and that I have a job that I'm passionate about,
then they kind of think that's a language they can say,
"Oh, I support that."
Right? - Yep.
It's kind of a weird way for them to say,
"I think I understand what you're doing."
"As long as you're eating and you're not too skinny."
- But it's crazy, the shift in change,
because when I first came out to my mom
several years ago, the first thing she said was,
"You're my son, I still love you no matter what."
Then she followed up by saying,
"Just whatever you do, don't tell your brother or your dad."
- My mom said something similar.
- Did she really? - Very similar, yeah.
Then she fucking told my dad.
- Did she really? - Yeah.
(crowd cheers)
- Hey, Austin.
(crowd cheers)
We're already in the greatest city in the world.
We all know this, but I'm so Texan,
I was born in mother fucking Waco.
(crowd cheers approval)
I think what was great about bringing my dad
to a drag show, was that it did exemplify
the evolution of our relationship,
and that even older people, from conservative backgrounds
from ethnic backgrounds, can grow.
(thumping club music plays)
One of the best things you can do to introduce your
family to the LGBT community is seeing drag.
It's just amazing.
You can appreciate it, because it's art on so many levels,
it's performance, it's comedy, it's dance.
He had a great time.
So what did you think of the drag show?
- That was fun, lifetime experience.
- What did you like most about it?
- Lip sync.
- Those people watching out there,
who have conservative families or are from
a background of color or religious background,
engage your families as much as you can.
And if you feel like there's an opening,
go for it.
Did you like the bar?
- Yeah, the bar was good.
- Do you think you'll go again sometime?
- Not me.
- No? - No.
- What about in L.A.?
Can I take you in L.A.?
- I'll think about it. - Okay.
I was surprised when he said he wanted to go,
but in the end it was a very fun experience
for both of us.
Well it means a lot to me that you'd come out
to my type of bars with my type of shows.
- He's got in the car and said,
"That was on my bucket list."
And then he goes, "Well not really, but I just
"put it on the bucket list and now it's done."
- I go, so.
- People come around eventually.
Not everyone's gonna be your friend's mom named Shannon,
who comes like to every gay bar
- and is like, "Where are we getting drunk?"
"Hey kids!"
They'll be their own version of that...
- Exactly.
- To their own comfort, so I think that everyone
should just know that everyone has their
own path and story.
- But to all the Shannons out there,
thank you for being you.
- Yeah.
And for everyone that's not,
become successful then tell your parents.
(loud laughter)
(edgy rock music plays)
- I gotta ask you how quickly you decided
to be Kim Chi.
- The very first time I went out I didn't care
what my drag name was, so my drag name was
Jizzney Princess.
(everyone laughs)
- Because I... (giggles)