"Opulence" memes are blowing up and it's all thanks to 'RuPaul's Drag Race's Mercedes Iman Diamond

13 March 2019, 16:25

By Jazmin Duribe

Mercedes Iman Diamond is going viral and it's all because of her hilarious pronunciation of "opulence".

You can pretty much always rely on RuPaul's Drag Race to deliver, especially when it comes to meme-able moments. Hello, we were shouting Miss Vanjie all year!? And we can't forget those Club 96 memes – iconic.

Last week's second episode of Drag Race season 11 saw Mercedes create one of the best moments so far during the first acting challenge. All the queens were tasked with doing spoof versions of blockbuster movies Black Panther and Get Out, but Mercedes struggled with her lines.

"Opulence! You own everything," she tried to say, whilst voguing into frame. The line is actually from 1991 movie Paris Is Burning, which is about the Ball culture in New York City. The phrase is also used in Brooke Candy's track "Opulence".

But when Mercedes tried to say it, it sounded much more like "upless" or "uplence"... And despite being corrected by Michelle Visage, Mercedes still couldn't grasp it.

Oh well, Drag Race fans have now turned Mercedes' pronunciation into a hilarious meme and lucky for you we've dug out some of the funniest ones on the internet.

It's probably one of the most versatile memes in herstory, tbh.

I mean, it's perfect for aviation.

And for memorising those tricky words.

It's even been adopted by Drag Race alum too.

Judge Judy could never.

This is one for the nature lovers.

999, what's your emergency?

Fight. The. Urge.

It's a dance of celebration.

Say it with emojis.

It's tormenting us all, truly.

Is it keeping you awake at night, or just us?

That's enough of the internet for today.