Heklina and Jackie Beat talk 'RuPaul's Drag Race': 'I don't think RuPaul would ever have drag queens on her show'
'RuPaul's Drag Race' has made drag more mainstream than ever before, which means it is no longer the underground, niche art form that was uniquely for by gay people looking for a family away from family, and has instead become the reason for cis, white women to go “Yasss, queen.” As much as the show has opened doors for the queens in mainstream entertainment, it has also embittered some of the older queens who experience the second-class citizen treatment because they were not on 'Drag Race.'
“It's good and bad, you know, because people have a higher visibility than it ever had, but drag audiences are now only interested in drag queens from 'Drag Race,'” says the legendary drag queen Heklina, who has been in the game for over 20 years. She also believes that the Vh1 – formerly Logo – show has also made the average drag fan way less interesting. “They're a bit more stupid and they don't explore so much about drag unless you're on the show. So, that's frustrating sometimes,” she says.