Drag is now a full-fledged spectator sport.
And drag queens now have a shot at pop stardom.
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Oh,hennnnnny: America loves its drag queens.
Moms do, kids do, your local gay bars do.
Its become a very big business with its own star-power machinery attached.
Its become almost unavoidable.
Their job is to check that of it.
And he has no problem with taking credit for this revolution in a wig.
Bitch, are you really serious?
Before that, drag was in the subversive clubs.
In fact, even in clubs, it was in a place where it wasnt celebrated.
Around the time that our show went on the air, there was nothing.
Girls were performing at restaurants without even a stage.
We were ahead of culture and culture has finally caught up.
Now drag queenswalk your high-fashion runwaysandappear in your Prada campaigns.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gushes and mourns on social media.
Nancy Pelosi went one better, visiting the Werk Room during an episode last year.
Nor are they all gay men.
Most attendees do not identify as gay, Barbato says.
It is the most beautiful thing in the world.
Its every flower in full bloom, RuPaul says.
Were talking straight, gay, black, white.
Were talking 8-year-old kids and 75-year-old women.
Its a city of beautiful flowers.
They are loving it.
But you dont have to go to DragCon.
Drag can come to you, whether you like it or not.
The tea is spilled everywhere now.
Many of the maxims that rouse amens from theDrag Racestage today were already scripture 25 years ago.
RuPaul has never been small.
Its the pictures that got big.
So, no, RuPaul is not surprised by the shows success.
Also inside of every one of us there is the knowledge that we are all in drag.
Now, whether humans can articulate that or not is neither here nor there.
Therein lies the rub.
Ive seen men in my lifetime put the kibosh on that behavior overnight.
Selection forDrag Raceis not a onetime boost.
Theyre out there, Barbato says.
Thats what Im most proud of, Ru says.
Creating a platform for these fabulous performers to launch a career that spans the globe.
Theyre out there working right now, and theyre making really, really big bucks doing it.
They literally are getting rich.
And I fucking love that.
Ive worked with most of the girls from New York before and after the show, he says.
It can make someones booking fee increase sometimes by 60 times over.
Ive seen it take one drag artist I know from poverty to an apartment in Gramercy.
A U.K. version ofDrag Raceis coming to the BBC.
Even Ru sometimes seems a little bored.
That show canreallyget the girls riled up, he said.
Thats what happens when something this powerful changes the culture.
But in general, the rising tide has lifted all boats.
The plan for us and a lot of these queens is global domination.
Well be looking at how do we spin this out, McCarthy says.
How do we turn it into other franchises?
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