Competing onRuPaul’s Drag Raceis an elite privilege reserved for drag queens at the top of their game.
“As I got to do drag more and more, it helped build my confidence.
That led me to be more prideful about who I am and my ancestry and heritage and culture.
Credit: Mettie Ostrowski for EW
I wanted to be prideful about being Asian.”
Read on for the full conversation.
YUHUA HAMASAKI: When I first started doing drag, I wasn’t on that route.
I got inspirations from people around me.
Ten or 15 years ago, drag was completely different.
So, I wore brown hair and blonde wigs; I wanted to emulate that aesthetic.
As I got to do drag more and more, it helped build my confidence.
That led me to be more prideful about who I am and my ancestry and heritage and culture.
I wanted to be prideful about being Asian.
Coming to America, I had a culture shock, and I didn’t realize it until years later.
There’s a lot more diversity now than 10 years ago.
Even five years ago, there wasn’t much Asian representation.
What did it feel like to finally see someone who looked like you on TV in drag?
If you don’t fit those criteria, you’re no good.
Luckily, throughout the years, individualism and diversity has been celebrated more.
It feels a lot better now.
You previously told me that upon moving from China to America, you were ashamed of your culture.
[Because of] what the media portrays as beautiful and wanted.
Now, we’re celebrating diversity.
Why is drag the best outlet for you to celebrate your culture, over any other medium?
It’s the same thing for drag queens, except we do it a little more hyper.
It brings up confidence and happiness!
Having grown up in a different country as well, can you also speak to that experience?
In Asian cultures, when your parents immigrate [to America], you basically live in a bubble.
My childhood was lived in Chinatown.
I went to school, I came back and watched my Chinese TV shows with my parents.
We spoke Chinese and they read their Chinese newspapers.
We didn’t know what was going on outside of our little bubble.
It’s the same thing when people asked me about movies or bands [back then].
I didn’t grow up listening to them or watching certain TV shows.
I watched what my parents watched, which was a bunch of Chinese stuff!
Especially with the presidency that we have today, it’s important to recognize people for who they are.
Plastique is Vietnamese, so you have to identify her respectfully and correctly.
I understand that Silky was trying to be comedic, but the joke could’ve been planned better!
If you grew up in a bubble, how did drag creep into the picture for you?
For me, it was online.
Myspace was my drag discovery!
I appreciated their bravery and courageousness in not being the norm or what society told them to.
I dressed up howtheydressed up; I wasn’t performing or doing Beyonce.
