Drag Race Down Under’s Etcetera Etcetera reacts to judges critiques and blackface controversy | PopBuzz Meets
3 June 2021, 10:57
Drag Race Down Under’s Etcetera Etcetera Reacts To Judges Critiques And Blackface Controversy
"The drag scene is racist as fuck. Being queer does not absolve you of being prejudice"
This week on the Drag Race Yearbook we're joined by the iconic Etcetera Etcetera.
The Drag Race Down Under contestant was the 5th queen to be booted off the show (not discounting Art Simone, who was invited back into the competition). Etcetera may not have won any challenges but she did have a big impact, especially in her final episode where Scarlett Adams' blackface controversy was finally addressed by RuPaul.
In a conversation in the werkroom, Art asked the queens if they've done anything in drag which they regret. Scarlett admits that she has worn blackface in performances in her past, claiming that she didn't know better at the time and that it was difficult for her to unlearn the racism that was around her as a child. It was Etcetera that took Scarlett to task over her actions, saying: "I've never looked at something like blackface and thought that could be an honest mistake" and she went on to tell Scarlett that she needed to do more than just say sorry to make amends for her actions.
WATCH: Drag king CHIYO: 'RuPaul's Drag Race actively promotes discrimination'
Etcetera's comments were widely praised on social media but she was quick to place the focus back on to the thoughts and feelings of the BIPOC community, a message she shared again in our interview, as well as revealing what the drag scene in Australia is learning in the wake of the controversy.
Elsewhere in the interview, Etcetera elaborates on the important message behind her runway look, the Australian references that got lost in translation with the judges, and Etcetera nominates her fellow queens in our juicy yearbook categories.
Hit play on the video at the top of this page to watch the full interview and then head over to the PopBuzz YouTube channel to see interviews with the other eliminated queens.
