Friends since the Inquisition, James St. James and Lady Bunny parade around her Ramada Inn room while talking about her stint on RuPaul’s Drag U. The show takes real, ordinary women and gives them a fabulous, ego-boostin’ make-over.
Producers for the show were weary of Bunny’s oftentimes un-lady-like humor, she tells us. For example, when a woman contestant talked about her son’s death, Bunny responded: “Girl, if your son could see you now (after the make-over), he’d get a boner.” And when Lady Bunny heard another contestant singing, she asked, “Wait, were you in the room singing when your sister committed suicide?”
Even James St. James went all offended-face.
What do you guys think? Can reality TV handle a little too-soon humor from a drag queen?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
manfred
This person is grotesque and from another age.
Daez
If people like this would simply disappear, we might have actual rights by now. The fact that every time the average person thinks about LGBT they think about these people doesn’t help our cause any. Drag is dieing quickly and painfully. The only people still interested in it are fat straight chicks that no one wants to fuck anyways.
fredo777
Enh, I don’t know. I’m not easily offended, but that boner joke was in poor taste on two levels: first, it’s her dead son you’re talking about. Second, it’s her SON you’re talking about. Alive or not, I don’t want to hear that I’d give my son a boner. That’s over the line, even by shock comedy standards.
SteveC
Hahaha.
Totally catty. But not meant in a cruel way.
SteveC
And Daez (no 2) – so you think that drag queens are responsible for the current inequalities we face?
I think you’ll find religion more responsible.
Or do you think that those pesky drag queens from way back when, should have simply been carted off to the police cells, instead of fighting back. If they had, do you think we’d have equality by now.
I personally would trust a drag queen before I’d trust a closet case.
christopher di spirito
I’m not a politically correct kind of guy and don’t believe in censorship but jokes about women losing their sons and sisters is just gutter. It’s amazing to me something with as little talent as Lady Bunny can go this far.
fredo777
@SteveC: Amen. It’s always funny when I hear these sad-sacks ranting about how “drag queens are to blame for gays not having equal rights” when it was those same gender-bending rebels who were among those who got shit started at the Stonewall riots.
Chris
That’s harsh and funny.
the big one
LADY BUNNY IS A MESS. SHE NEEDS TO HANG UP THAT WIG! I HEARD SHE WAS SUPPOSE TO PLAY AT A CLUB AND DIDN’T SHOW UP BECAUSE ANOTHER PROMOTER TOLD HER NOT TOO! OLD SHADY MESS. SHE SHOULD BE HAPPY PEOPLE ARE STILL HIRING HER CREPT LOOKING @$$. That is so wrong what she said.
Elloreigh
@Daez: Nope. The haters would still find something to hate us for. More often it’s the ‘ick’ factor, whether that’s a non-specific ‘ick’ because they can’t relate to same-sex affection, or a more specific ‘ick’ about anal sex (which many of us don’t actually practice).
But mostly, it’s religion-based. If all the drag queens and leather daddies disappeared tomorrow, I seriously doubt our equality would come any faster.
All that said, I resent the fact that over-the-top displays, including drag, help to fuel such animus toward our community amongst people who don’t understand our history and drag’s place in it. But I think anger toward the drag queens and leather daddies themselves is perhaps misdirected. It depends on whether we’re talking about people just being ‘fabulous’ or people making a spectacle of themselves with bitchy or raunchy behavior in public. Kind of a one bad apple tends to ruin the whole bunch, unfair as that is.
mattsy
Lady Bunny is hilarious, gorgeous, and always nice off stage (to me anyway-maybe she can smell a cunt and thats somma u bitches on here)
Elloreigh
@fredo777: Sure, but that doesn’t mean we owe the drag queens parading at Pride today anything. Stonewall was 40+ years ago.
Elloreigh
@manfred: Grotesque has it’s place, as it can make us think about where the boundaries are, and why they exist.
That said, I think we should be looking forward, while mindful of our past. Drag, for instance, is a part of ‘gay culture’ that has zero meaning for me apart from its historical significance in our movement.
Ginasf
I wonder if Jon Ingle (who Lady Bunny is most of the time) would say that to a woman whose son recently died if Ingle wasn’t wearing the wig and makeup? I don’t think drag queens should be something queer/trans people should be ashamed of nor do I think they’re holding back anyone from getting their rights. But I also think it’s very easy to make callous, hurtful, and supposedly outrageous statements when you’re wearing a little outfit, wig and makeup and then can take it off put on an izod shirt and hide behind your gay male persona. I have little respect for the supposed transgressiveness that represents.
Dr. Dick
Mom/Son boner jokes? That’s a little much Bun, but can we not cast blame for inequality on drag queens? That’s neither fair, nor logical as a few people have pointed out already. Gender-bending homoz are part of what got us to where we are now…which isn’t GREAT, but it’s a helluva lot better than where we were…. Drag On honey!
And @Daez: for your information, most of the drag queens I know are handsome, @ least SEMI-intelligent, genuinely nice young men, who also make beautiful genderfuck drag hotties. Don’t decide that a sunculture is “dieing” (LOL) because you don’t know anything about it. That sounds like Christian Right logic to me…
fredo777
@Elloreigh: Those drag queens fought 40 years ago so queens could be liberated enough to parade around at Pride today, being themselves, no matter how much of a flamboyant hot mess that is + I wouldn’t personally have it any other way.
Mark
Lady Bunny is a big mess!!
And that’s just one of the reasons I love her.
ewe
Lady Bunny is fabulous and i love the wig. LOVE IT.
JM
Lady Bunny is a legend, and half of you complaining about her wouldn’t even have half the gay clubs/centers/etc. to go to if people like her didn’t exist.
Know your history. A Lesbian and a Drag Queen originally fought for your write to post such stupid comments on this blog.
Ogre Magi
James St James sounds kind of weird
Eminent Victorian
Bunny’s made a fine career out of “the inappropriate,” and she does it better than anybody. If you don’t know about her history and what she’s already contributed to the betterment of the mess of you bemoaners in this comments section that’s kind of sad, actually. And she writes a lot of great and insightful political commentary on her blog. Oh, there’s plenty of crass, too, but she’s a pro. I, too, wouldn’t have her any other way.
Robbie K
Go Bunny 🙂
Elloreigh
@fredo777: Still doesn’t mean I owe the drag queens of today anything, or that their parading around at Pride has any relevance to my life.
ewe
@Elloreigh: Lady Bunny isn’t about YOU!!! No drag queen is about you. Nothing about this is about you. People parading around at Pride is not about you. Drag Queens owe you nothing including your approval.
ewe
@Elloreigh: Sorry, but it just came off like you were being down on drag queens and i don’t get why. what did any drag queen ever do for you? Is that your point? You can say that about a lot of people and circumstances.
Elloreigh
@ewe: Next time, read back through the conversation before you spout off. I wasn’t talking about Lady Bunny. I was responding to someone else who had commented on something I said earlier. In other words, when taken in context, it was about me.
As for “drag queens owe you nothing, including your approval”, I’ve never said anything to the contrary. I was responding to the implied assertion that I owe drag queens marching at Pride something because of Stonewall. What they owe me (which is absolutely nothing) was never part of the conversation.
Dame Helga von Ornstein
Queerty, thank you very much for making me come to my senses. Tonight, here in NYC, is the kickoff for Gay Pride week and I was suppose to go to an event where this old, washed out ass queen is suppose to spin records. I do hope the producers saw this and had a change of heart. This is no longer funny. This is desperation at its worst. What a shame she didn’t go out and get a real job as a customer service rep for the phone company or something along those lines.
When I called a friend of mine this morning and told him about it he told me HELL NO, he was not going and added that I should stop fantasizing about the old days when people(?) like this were funny and entertaining. He suggested that the memories of Wigstock were just that, memories. Drag is dead. It’s death began when it was accepted by the mainstream media, which itself has no shame nor morals.
Thank you again for making me see the light. Now I am going to call him back and admit that he was right and hope I can put Flotilla, Lipsynka and all the rest in the back of my mind where they obviously now belong. I think I will pass on the Muscle Mary parade. Or do they still call it the Gay Pride parade? Thank god for age, wisdom, and good friends who tell you like it is without having to have seen this shit.
ewe
@Dame Helga von Ornstein: It is obvious the only reason you do not want to go any events is because you previously went to so many that you are just done with it. That has absolutely nothing to do with anything but you. Yeah, and as a matter of fact they do call it the gay pride parade and there are gay people who do drag and there are gay people who pump iron and there are even gay people who are politicians and attorneys and doctors and cops and firemen and women that march too. Face it. You’re just tired of it. That has nothing to do with nothing but you, the old washed out queen. YOUR WORDS.
ewe
@Elloreigh: When taken in “real context” it’s not about you at all Blanche.
ewe
Don’t you kooks get the significance of the wig? oy vey.
Outsider
@ewe: The offense you took to Dame’s comment makes you sound more like a fifty-year old washed out queen yourself. Are you one of those types who dyed your gray hair, moved into the gym back in late March and tried working out like your in your mid-thirties hoping no one noticed the gray hair in your crotch and on your chest?
I can see you now marching and shouting “gay pride” with a group of old muscle queens who are always ignored by the twinks they cruise in the gym until twink needs a place to stay. Don’t worry dear. You and the rest of the ignorant and lonely are what this farce is all about.
ewe
@Outsider: My answer to your question is no. What makes you think older gay people are interested in younger gay people or need them so desperately to get through their day. You are the joke. Get out the mirror and do your monologue for youself. Not everyone is chronically single like you obviously are.
Elloreigh
@ewe: You don’t get to dictate what constitutes the “real context” just because you jumped into a conversation without bothering to follow it from its point of origin.
Here’s a hint: It’s not about you and your attitude problem, either.
ewe
@Elloreigh: yeah right. i hear you putting down drag queens and attempting to tell me i am the one with the attitude problem. You are the rancid queen with the rotten negativity in need of reflection.
ewe
@Elloreigh: oh let me guess. you are a heMan. How very butch. Did you find that on a television sitcom?
Dame Helga von Ornstein
Girls, girls………lets all thank god for the U.S. of A and PLEASE go back to being friends. Our unasked for opinions have been given and lets leave it at that.
Good luck Ms.Lady Bunny, Flotilla de Barge, Lipsynka, Mistress Formica, Taboo, Gurlina and all the rest of you girls (whom I enjoyed back in the day when I, and again I say I, thought drag was at its highlight) in whatever it is that you are currently doing to support yourself.
We are all big girls here but I am asking everyone to please refrain from a needless argument. Take care everyone.
Elloreigh
@ewe: I see that your values apparently also include lying. I have not been putting down drag queens.
Elloreigh
@ewe: No, I don’t consider myself ‘butch’ or a ‘he-man’. You’re clearly just throwing stuff against the wall to see if you can get something to stick.
Elloreigh
@Dame Helga von Ornstein: Assuming you’re talking about ewe’s pointless attacks on me…
1) Just to be clear, I’m not a girl, and camp isn’t my thing.
2) I do not pretend to be friends with every person I meet, regardless of whether or not we share an orientation.
3) I do not now, nor have I ever regarded ewe as my friend. As far as I’m concerned, ewe is the Internet persona of someone about whom I know very little. From what I’ve seen of that persona, it doesn’t inspire a desire for friendship. I suppose that I should, however, acknowledge the obvious fact that I have anti-social tendencies, and that friendship is a low priority for me when it comes to Internet forums.
Now, I’m perfectly willing to let the matter drop, as it’s clear that having an exchange with ewe is unproductive and doesn’t really contribute anything of substance to the discussion. On the other hand, I’m not inclined to let ewe’s salvos go unanswered. I feel I have as much right to defend myself from that kind of nonsense as anyone else.
So while I appreciate your efforts at peacemaking, I rather doubt they’re going to succeed, as that would require both parties to be reasonable.
Miss Understood
Lady Bunny happens to BE my mother, and to this day, every time I see her, I get a big throbbing boner.