Bob The Drag Queen is getting ready to head out on the road with Madonna on her The Celebration Tour, but he’s also busy with his own projects as well. The beloved drag performer and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race spoke to Attitude magazine about his new comedy special, the tour, and his relationship with the pop icon, and he revealed that yes, he’s shown her one of the most shocking moments from the RuPaul’s Drag Race runway.
In the chat, Bob stated the he “did once show her a clip of Drag Race when all the queens were dressed in kimonos.” While some might see the episode as odd or even find it uncomfortable, Madonna reacted well to the many homages paid to her. “She thought it was pretty funny” the champion admitted.
The clip that Bob showed the Grammy winner was from an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race that included a Madonna-inspired runway challenge. The contestants all had to pick an iconic look from Madonna’s time in the spotlight and showcase their own version of it on the runway, which is a challenge that has happened in the past with a focus on other stars.
Four contestants, Thorgy Thor, Derrick Barry, Kim Chi, and Naomi Smalls, all wore kimonos as part of the challenge. They were all referencing her “Nothing Really Matters” music video, which famously featured Madonna in a kimono at a time when cultural appropriation wasn’t as much of an issue that people got called out for as it is today. Immediately after the episode aired, many fans of the show referred to the moment as “kimono gate.”
Bob has referenced this interaction with Madonna before. In a separate chat he had on his Sibling Rivalry podcast, which he co-hosts with fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Monét X Change, Bob stated that when he showed this clip to Madonna, her main question to him was why he chose to recreate her 2013 GLAAD Media Awards protest look, which featured a Boy Scout uniform.
Of all the many looks she’s turned out throughout her career, why pick that one, which is fairly straightforward, and very masculine? Bob explained that he loved the look and believed it was a great choice. He then proudly told Madonna that he had won the challenge that week, thanks in part to the Boy Scout outfit.
Bob is set to open for Madonna when her The Celebration Tour begins in October in London. The run of shows was supposed to begin in America this summer, but weeks before it commenced, Madonna was rushed to the hospital with a bacterial infection, which delayed the start of the venture.
"The way I work is that I have to take photos of the show," says Marco Ovando, describing his assignment as the official photographer for Voss Events' long-running RuPaul's Drag Race Werq the World Tour. "So I know they're very nervous. It's opening night. They want everything to be perfect."
They, of course, are the Werq the World queens, superstar drag performers like the current cast of Jimbo, Daya Betty, Kim Chi, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Jorgeous, and Jaida Essence Hall.
"I never even talk to them much before," says Ovando, elaborating on his strategy for capturing the onstage showgirl fantasy. "I go into the audience and just get a spot and shoot from there. They don't even know. Because I don't want to put pressure. Second day, I do backstage because that's other stuff that people would like to see."
Back in May, just after our 31st anniversary, I asked readers which of four classic cover interviews from our early years they'd like to see in print again: Greg Louganis (March 9, 1995), Sir Ian McKellen (Jan. 25, 1996), Camille Paglia (Feb. 1, 1996), or Eartha Kitt (Nov. 14, 1996). None of these conversations exist online, and they haven't been seen since their original print dates.
Out of more than 200 responses, 8% chose Paglia, 27% picked Louganis, 29% went for McKellen, and an impressive 36% cast their vote for Kitt.
Kitt, who passed away in December 2008, seemed a fitting choice to revisit. A pop culture icon for her turn as the second Catwoman (following Julie Newmar) on the late-1960s, camp-classic TV series Batman, she was slated to appear at Washington's legendary jazz nightclub Blues Alley when we spoke.
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