Drag Race Down Under

[*Chris]

40 minutes ago, Elliott said:

 

I swear this season gets worse every episode.

#lowstandards tbh.

[Elliott]

17 minutes ago, *Chris said:

#lowstandards tbh.

Ru saw Canada and Holland’s questionable judging and was all “hold my beer”

[Elliott]

1. Kita Mean - That bottom two placement was horsesh*t.

Elektra Shock - See above.
2. Art Simone - Mediocre run.

3. Karen From Finance - Mediocre run.

4. Scarlet Adams - Trash.

[Solaris]

1. Karen from Finance - I thought she was solid in both the talent show and the runway AND she stepped out doing sexy Karen.  

2. Elektra Shock - Her dance was fine, but shes so dang likable.

3. Kita Mean - I really enjoyed her talent show even though it was just ruveals.  I can understand her winning the lip sync, she did a great job with it.

4. Art Simone - The only talent show I didn't like.  Bad week for Art, but stunning runway.

5. Scarlet Adams - I can't argue with the win, as she basically kicked Shea's pole dance in the face.  But ugh I dislike her.  Is she going to win next week? Hopefully the public is super against her. 

[FrogLenzen]

Elektra carried this entire season on her back and this is the thanks she gets from Ru.

 

Art being surprised that Elektra would say her name.... girl please, you've won no challenges or lip syncs and you've already been eliminated byeeeeeee bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye bye

 

This is the weakest Top 4 the world has ever seen. I never thought I would be so desperately wishing for a Kita win but here we are. And I'm not understanding why they are doing a Top 4 instead of a Top 3. THERE WERE ONLY 10 CONTESTANTS. 4 is almost half. I can't. The only bonus is that it means there is one fewer episode but if they just let Art stay home we wouldn't have this problem. Bye

[FrogLenzen]

Courtney Act watching RuPaul personally come to Australia and steal the gig that's rightfully Courtney's, just to do this mess of a job:

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by FrogLenzen

[Elliott]

[Elliott]

27 minutes ago, FrogLenzen said:

And I'm not understanding why they are doing a Top 4 instead of a Top 3. THERE WERE ONLY 10 CONTESTANTS. 4 is almost half. I can't. The only bonus is that it means there is one fewer episode but if they just let Art stay home we wouldn't have this problem. Bye

All Stars 4 took ten weeks to crown 20% of its ten person cast.

[FrogLenzen]

4 hours ago, Elliott said:

All Stars 4 took ten weeks to crown 20% of its ten person cast.

latriceunprofessionalism.gif

[Guest]

1. Scarlet - The absolute best. She wipes the floor with everyone every week and this one is no exception. The performance in the talent show was incredible and her look was beautiful. The level of pettiness and unwillingness to forgive is something to behold. Queen just keeps on proving herself and is here to win. The end! 
2. Karen From Finance - I always liked her, she was well known going into this but hasn’t totally delivered overall. That said, this week was decent. I liked her headpiece a lot too. She’s in #2 based in large part on her personality. 
3. Art - I do like her makeup very often, has had some funny moments. Probably shouldn’t have been brought back for no reason but it definitely spiced things up. 

4. Kita - Likable, enjoyed the look this week. Talent show portion took too long to go somewhere. 

[*Lily]

What a mess of a show omg.

 

Here's the thing, I don't think anyone's denying Scarlet's talent. She did a fantastic job on the pole. I don't wanna sound like a broken record when I know this comes up every week, but being unwilling to forgive is not being petty. I do hope Scarlet can commit to learning to grow and really understands the damage of her actions, but when someone has shown ignorance to many cultures on many occasions to the point where she pretty much made it her persona as a drag performer? I think it's absolutely fair for people to not want to forgive her with open arms.

 

Week was a mess as always. Being objective I can agree with the Scarlet win but omg - Karen showed up and made one balloon animal?! Art... just ate things? What a nightmare lmao. I thought Elektra's dance was great and I enjoyed Kita's performance. The long flights truly messed up Ru and Michelle even moreso than ever.

 

1. The Veronicas

2. Elektra - Deserved way better. Fought until the very end.

3. Kita - Only valid crowning right now would be her.

4. Art - I think keeping her as a shock boot would have been better for her journey and maybe she'd get a second chance somewhere in future. Since she's come back I don't think she's done anything amazing.

5. Karen - One of the most meh finalists ever surely? She has truly floated her way to the end it is insane.

6. Scarlet - Omg her prize was merch with her face on it? I'm sure that's going to go down great.

 

[*Lily]

Kylie, Alyssa and Denali (and Kita lol but she’s liked all of them) liking the official #TeamScarlet posts on Instagram? I pretend to not see it.

 

Aquaria just commented “naur” though.  

[Elliott]

22 minutes ago, *Lily said:

Kylie, Alyssa and Denali (and Kita lol but she’s liked all of them) liking the official #TeamScarlet posts on Instagram? I pretend to not see it.

I told @*Chris and @totes4totes that I just assumed they liked all of the posts without thinking of it. I don’t think any of them actually watched this season.

[*Lily]

7 minutes ago, Elliott said:

I told @*Chris and @totes4totes that I just assumed they liked all of the posts without thinking of it. I don’t think any of them actually watched this season.

I did think this as a possibility and choose to believe it.

[*Chris]

3 hours ago, *Lily said:

Kylie, Alyssa and Denali (and Kita lol but she’s liked all of them) liking the official #TeamScarlet posts on Instagram? I pretend to not see it.

 

Aquaria just commented “naur” though.  

I am living for Aquaria commenting no on the dollar store version of herself! 

[*Lily]

7 minutes ago, *Chris said:

I am living for Aquaria commenting no on the dollar store version of herself! 

I really liked Aquaria on her season, but her no-BS attitude on social media has made her a real fave for me

[Guest]

On 6/13/2021 at 6:31 AM, *Lily said:

What a mess of a show omg.

 

Here's the thing, I don't think anyone's denying Scarlet's talent. She did a fantastic job on the pole. I don't wanna sound like a broken record when I know this comes up every week, but being unwilling to forgive is not being petty. I do hope Scarlet can commit to learning to grow and really understands the damage of her actions, but when someone has shown ignorance to many cultures on many occasions to the point where she pretty much made it her persona as a drag performer? I think it's absolutely fair for people to not want to forgive her with open arms.

 

It's only a broken record situation because it's brought up every week to keep it alive. What more would you expect Scarlet to do at this point? I'd really like to know the answer to the question. There's been apologies, the mistakes to my knowledge haven't been repeated. I don't think anyone's denying the issue with what she did, but does this mean she can't have a career now, because some have decided she shouldn't and all the mistakes someone has made (whether you want to label them racist or culturally insensitive) should define them? Furthermore, who are you to make that determination? I get that people want to do the right thing and be seen as doing the right thing (i.e. virtue signaling) but if you don't like someone for whatever reason, making the decision not to follow or support them makes sense. It wouldn't make sense to make it a personal mission to trash them at every turn. 

[Zoey]

The queen who showed the only real talent was put in the bottom two. This is genuinely the worst season of Drag Race ever.

 

01. Elektra - Best talent show performance and KILLLLLLED that lip-sync. Should’ve stayed but she didn’t fit in to their already planned top four.

02. Scarlet - I’m not that bothered about who should win now but she’s had consistently great looks and I think she’s the most capable of killing a final lip-sync. 
03. Karen - Great look this week but underwhelming talent show. I do like her though.

04. Kita - Probably the most likeable of this top four but I’m so uninvested in this season that my rankings change massively weekly. Some weeks I think she’s great and then I forget about her.

05. Art - Why did she return? She isn’t likeable and she’s probably the most forgettable queen to ever make a finale.

 

Lol at this season getting a cash prize and they give RPDRUK a cheap miniseries. 

[*Lily]

2 hours ago, Drew said:

It's only a broken record situation because it's brought up every week to keep it alive. What more would you expect Scarlet to do at this point? I'd really like to know the answer to the question. There's been apologies, the mistakes to my knowledge haven't been repeated. I don't think anyone's denying the issue with what she did, but does this mean she can't have a career now, because some have decided she shouldn't and all the mistakes someone has made (whether you want to label them racist or culturally insensitive) should define them? Furthermore, who are you to make that determination? I get that people want to do the right thing and be seen as doing the right thing (i.e. virtue signaling) but if you don't like someone for whatever reason, making the decision not to follow or support them makes sense. It wouldn't make sense to make it a personal mission to trash them at every turn. 

 

I will say, that I do think in a way that some of the blame does need to be transferred over to the show as well. While they may say they cast her not knowing about her past only for it to come to light during filming, it's clearly out there for people to find so they did a bad job at screening their contestants if they missed this. Considering the fanbase is knowingly very vocal, I do think they have made a mistake casting someone with such a controversial background because that is naturally going to come with relentless social media abuse that I would not wish on her, no matter how much I may not support her being on the show.

 

All that being said.. calling Scarlet's actions a mistake really understates the severity of her actions and what she's done. It's not just an offensive tweet or joke, but the art of mocking other cultures and stereotypes numerous times for her performances, which she would then get paid for! Blackface goes way beyond the idea of a slap on the wrist and telling someone not to repeat their 'mistakes' to me. I do hope she can show an understanding of the severity of her actions and puts in the work in the future, I'm not going to trash her on her social media or anything as an outlet like people do. But I think it is absolutely understandable when you make a choice like she has, to feel an apology isn't quite enough. Saying that not accepting her apology is 'pettiness' really just understates her actions.

[totes4totes]

1 hour ago, *Lily said:

All that being said.. calling Scarlet's actions a mistake really understates the severity of her actions and what she's done. It's not just an offensive tweet or joke, but the art of mocking other cultures and stereotypes numerous times for her performances, which she would then get paid for! Blackface goes way beyond the idea of a slap on the wrist and telling someone not to repeat their 'mistakes' to me. I do hope she can show an understanding of the severity of her actions and puts in the work in the future, I'm not going to trash her on her social media or anything as an outlet like people do. But I think it is absolutely understandable when you make a choice like she has, to feel an apology isn't quite enough. Saying that not accepting her apology is 'pettiness' really just understates her actions.

I'll add that it wasn't one or two times in Blackface. It was a repeated pattern of behavior in black/brown/yellow face to go along with a history of mocking Aboriginal culture (https://www.instagram.com/p/CMTntvSBOqD/). Some of the performances highlighted (that Scarlet got paid for) are from 2018 when he was well into being an adult. It should also be noted that in one of her post-show appearances this is what she was wearing: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPSbGBfjMmK

 

What remorse, what learning and growing, what responsibility has Scarlet taken that wasn't a part of her journey on Drag Race. Or even since aside from her Apology on TV and an instagram the day after. What work has she done to show that she's changed. What queens of color from communities and cultures she repeatedly insulted and mocked has she uplifted? Scarlet is a 27-year-old grown man. If he wants to be accepted back and not be painted as a racist he needs to do real work to show that he's changed as a person. An apology is just a start. Not the end of a reparations tour.

[Elliott]

1 hour ago, *Lily said:

But I think it is absolutely understandable when you make a choice like she has, to feel an apology isn't quite enough.

I also don't feel like her apology has seen genuine at all. She posted a video where it sounded like she was reading from a script, posted an apology that she typed up in the Notes app on her iPhone, and then did like one small donation to a cause, before she went out and did a routine mocking the people who were mad at her (and posing for photos in said look). She's never once actually reached out to any of the queens that her actions would've caused offence to - which is astonishing given that there were two alone in her season - and hasn't used her platform for any good. (Which I know Instagram has "shadowbanned" her because her account has sexual photos, but if she's the frontrunner for the win, she would still have a platform to do these things.)

 

It also looks bad compared to Karen From Finance, who also had racist actions in her past but - by all accounts - actually took the time to educate herself on why her actions were bad, took necessary steps to remedy the situation in her life, and did all of this privately before Drag Race Down Under even began airing.

 

That said, I'm a white man, so it's not even my place to accept her apology because nothing she did affected me.

 

But I also genuinely haven't liked her this season even before I knew about what happened in her past. I don't find her a pleasant personality on the show (like at least Etc. Etc. was given a redemption edit in the last edit and they even poked fun at how they came across themselves) and I don't really think she's deserved the wins she's gotten. Anita easily could've won the girl groups challenge over her, and imo Kita and Elektra were better than her in the talent show. Every time she was about to start a transition from one pose to another, they would cut to the judges to hide how clunky the transitions were.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, *Lily said:

 

All that being said.. calling Scarlet's actions a mistake really understates the severity of her actions and what she's done. It's not just an offensive tweet or joke, but the art of mocking other cultures and stereotypes numerous times for her performances, which she would then get paid for! Blackface goes way beyond the idea of a slap on the wrist and telling someone not to repeat their 'mistakes' to me. I do hope she can show an understanding of the severity of her actions and puts in the work in the future, I'm not going to trash her on her social media or anything as an outlet like people do. But I think it is absolutely understandable when you make a choice like she has, to feel an apology isn't quite enough. Saying that not accepting her apology is 'pettiness' really just understates her actions.

Just so I understand, is there any hope for redemption in your view or are we just deciding that certain people can never be allowed in polite society again? What does "putting in the work" mean specifically? I understand the concept actions speak louder than words, are you just referring to being an advocate in that regard for marginalized communities, etc? Not intending to give you a hard time, but I'm just wanting to know from you or anyone else, what would be acceptable going forward? Perhaps mistake was the wrong word to use, but sometimes people just do stupid things. There's no getting around that. Should we only be judged on our worst moment, decision, utterance and not given the chance to bounce back? I don't think that's fair. 

[*Chris]

Again, I said this before - I believe can grow and learn from things but you do not learn and grow from two years ago; you learn as time goes by.  And she has shown that she has a track record of repeating this kind of behavior : portraying Indian / Bollywood when she is not one, dressing us as indigenous, doing blackface twice & doing it in a stereotypical way, doing an performance when she's impersonating an Asian newsbroadcaster...  And she has yet to show any remorse of doing these things so.... when she shows remorse and growth we can talk but she has yet to show any growth. 

And also, when a POC tells us that they're offended by someone's action and doing  blackface, we should listen to them and stop trying to make excuses from the people doing blackface or having racist tendencies. 

 

---

Another thing on Scarlet, even without the cultural appropriation and black face, I still would rank her last - she's incredibly unlikeable, she's nothing new as in I feel she gives us alot of what Aquaria gave us hence why I call her a dollar store version of Aquaria. 

[FrogLenzen]

I feel like there's a leap being made from "not crowning a contestant to be the first drag race superstar to represent the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise for an international region" to "never be allowed in polite society again."

[totes4totes]

45 minutes ago, Drew said:

What does "putting in the work" mean specifically?

 

1 hour ago, totes4totes said:

What work has she done to show that she's changed. What queens of color from communities and cultures she repeatedly insulted and mocked has she uplifted?

1 hour ago, Elliott said:

he's never once actually reached out to any of the queens that her actions would've caused offence to - which is astonishing given that there were two alone in her season - and hasn't used her platform for any good.

That's two examples. But also. Scarlet could give a sincere apology. Advocate for and donate to local organizations that support the communities that her history of racism has impacted. Post that you are reading books or articles or attending events that BIPOC people have written or are doing. Show some actual remorse to begin with!