Drag Race UK star Ginny Lemon: We need more post-show opportunities for queens
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Ginny Lemon said while the program was “pushing boundaries” they wanted contestants to have the same post-show opportunities as other reality TV performers.
Known for her thick-rimmed glasses and signature shade of yellow, emon surprised viewers when they gave up their battle to lip-sync and take the stage in the show’s fourth season, which first aired on BBC Three in January, in a shock exit in the fourth week left 2021.
The Worcester-born Queen has since starred on Channel 4’s celebrity bus tour and taken the stage at some of the country’s biggest venues for the tour of the second series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK races…I want to see her everywhere else.”
Lemon also said they wanted to see the same treatment given to Drag Race contestants as other reality stars, using ITV2’s Love Island as an example.
“Love Island is like the pure drag race – they all go and dress up as these fantasy people who don’t exist,” Lemon told the PA news agency.
Ginny Lemon said having a conversation about identifying as non-binary was the “best” thing they did on Series 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (Em Jones).
“And don’t get me wrong: I’m friends with people who have been to Love Island and there are some glorious, wonderful people… It’s nothing personal.
“But after that you see Love Island people being invited to movie premieres or coming up in magazines and you see all this press and attention for these people who have effectively gone through the same process (like Drag Race).
“When you’re the pinnacle of X Factor fame, you get invited to the red carpets.
“But when you’re the pinnacle of a queer-led show, you still fight very hard to get at least one of us there… You know, you see one person from Drag Race and 10 people from Love Island.
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“Why are we on reality TV able to repel some people and treat them way better than others?”
Lemon began practicing drag after her sister’s sudden death in 2016, using it as a “coping mechanism” but finding joy in the performance and the “very healing” color yellow.
They were one of two non-binary stars in Series 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, alongside runner-up Bimini Bon Boulash, and said a “natural, free-flowing conversation” about their experience of identifying as non-binary was “the best thing “. what I ever did on this show”.
“I was talking to sister sister and then Bimini heard it and she came over and we had such a lovely conversation that I always say was just one human being talking to another human being at the time,” they said.
Lemon spoke about adjusting to life in the limelight (PA)
“It’s amazing for me to open up this conversation to so many different people.
“With that open intention and openness, I’ve definitely learned not to judge people and to expect different things.”
Lemon also spoke about interacting with fans since they left the show and adjusted to life in the spotlight.
“I remember I had a little shop in Malvern and this guy came up to me — normally I would avoid that person and think, ‘Oh my God, there’s going to be some homophobia,'” they said.
“I have this straight old white man and he basically told me he loved the show, I’m his favorite and his family loves the show.
“And it was such a beautiful thing … I thought this is someone I would have run away from 10 years ago if I saw him, but now they’re open to that conversation.”
And while the show has “pushed boundaries,” they’d like to see drag and LGBTQ+ performance beyond RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“It’s great that queer entertainers are in Drag Race, but I want to see them everywhere else,” Lemon said.
“The representation on Drag Race was good to make it stand out – but now we need to expand it.
“I think that’s the big picture.”
Why can’t we hurry and shake and see more depictions of these glorious, beautiful, amazing queer people than we should be seeing?Ginny Lemon
They added it would be “fucking awesome” to see more transgender and non-binary storylines in reality and on broader television.
“We need more of that representation, more trans storylines, more non-binary storylines… It would be great to have a trans lead character who doesn’t talk about being trans – that would be a hell of a thing to see.” could,” they say.
“Drag Race was good for pushing those boundaries, but I want to see more… I want to see queens on other shows (and) not just your favorite girls.”
“I think it also requires people at the top to take risks – we’re living in 2022.
“The world has changed so much in the last 20 years.
“Why can’t we hurry and shake and see more depictions of these glorious, beautiful, amazing queer people than we should be seeing?”
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/drag-race-uk-star-ginny-lemon-we-need-more-opportunities-for-queens-post-show-41509155.html Drag Race UK star Ginny Lemon: We need more post-show opportunities for queens