RuPaul's back on TV with a reality show called RuPaul's Drag Race on Logo. Yeah, I know I've griped for years about the lack of visibility of GLBT African-Americans in the media, but this is one show that I and many African-American GLBT peeps won't be watching.The reason? Many of us consider RuPaul a sellout.
RuPaul's road to Clarence Thomas-Condoleezza Rice territory basically began in 2002, when he started defending Chuck Knipp and his odious blackface minstrel show that many of us in the SGL community and our allies have major problems with.
When New York activists protested and succeeded in shutting down a 2002 show, RuPaul leaped to Chuck's defense.
RuPaul also had this to say when he appeared at Southern Decadence in New Orleans a few years ago.
"Critics who think that Shirley Q. Liquor is offensive are idiots. Listen, I've been discriminated against by everybody in the world: gay people, black people, whatever. I know discrimination, I know racism, I know it very intimately. She's not racist, and if she were, she wouldn't be on my new CD."
I'm a critic and a lot smarter than you are. Obviously your racism detector is way off and your ignorance of black history speaks volumes. It's also why that 'Foxy Lady' CD tanked. If you'd paid attention in history class, you'd know that your racist runnin' buddy does a blackface minstrel show that on multiple levels is offensive and racist. Hiding behind your short skirts won't shield him from the deserved criticism and negativity he gets for doing so.
RuPaul also said on a gay radio show,
“I love it. People really need to take a chill pill and people really aren’t sophisticated enough to know that when a person is coming from a place of love as opposed to coming from a place of hate. Shirley Q. Liquor is so clearly coming from a place of love.”
How much 'sophistication' was Chuck showing when he (or one of his cronies) photoshopped Jasmyne Cannick's head to the body of an nude African American porn model on his website because she successfully led the effort to shut down one of his California shows?
Did that come from a place of love? Hell, naw.
RuPaul, you can stop trying to defend Chuck. It's the reason many of us aren't enamored of you any more, and the sooner you realize that, the better.
But then again, like all good sellouts, you'll salute, take the money they offer you, continue to stab your people in the back and expect us to be quiet about it.
