Michelle Visage recently spilled some major RuPaul’s Drag Race tea regarding legends who have been asked to appear on the Emmy-winning show but have turned it down for one particular reason.
The 52-year-old was part of a digital press conference ahead of the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK where the first icon she spoke about is a beloved country queen and LGBTQ ally.
“Just to let everybody know we have asked Dolly Parton for 11, 12, 13 years,” she admitted. The “Jolene” singer’s songs have yet to be part of any lip sync battle on Drag Race however Trixie Mattel did channel her during a musical-themed challenge on All Stars 3.
“At the end of the day it’s scheduling, and it’s a very long day for these people,” she continued in relation to why they can’t commit. The mother-of-two then revealed three other superstars that they’ve continually asked to no avail.
“To just calm everybody down we do ask Cher, we do ask Madonna, we do ask Liza, we do ask Dolly, we ask everybody, and scheduling is always the conflict,” she said before bringing up someone they were able to wrangle in although it wasn’t easy.
“It took years to get (Lady) Gaga, but we got her.” The Oscar winner began a tradition of Drag Race having a huge pop star be their first guest judge each year that started in season 9. Others that followed included Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Ricky Martin and Miley Cyrus.
The scheduling problem has been brought up by others as well. Supermodel Naomi Campbell has also been asked to guest judge but the timing was never right. She discussed this with RuPaul during a Watch What Happens Live episode in 2017.
Season 13 began very differently last Friday. One, there was no guest judge and the mainstays (RuPaul, Michelle, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews) sat with dividers in between them as this was filmed during the Coronavirus pandemic.
There are, however, some big names appearing in the upcoming weeks. Deadline reported that Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Byer, Loni Love, TS Madison and Jamal Sims are slated to join the Drag Race panel this season.
There will also be virtual appearances (meaning they won’t be with the judges) by Drag Race superfans Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson with alumni Nina West, Valentina and Heidi N Closet stopping by the legendary set.