A couple of months ago at the Hater’s Roast in Denver, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 winner Trixie Mattel made a controversial joke about race that had the audience laughing awkwardly and squirming at the same time. In the Hater’s Roast, like with any other roast, popular drag queens take turns ripping on each other and making jokes at each other’s expense.
In comedy, many believe, that anything goes and if you are going to be a part of something like a roast you better be ready to be take a joke as much as you can give it. I guess the same would go for audiences who watching. Some jokes may be too close for comfort for some, but some comedy queens like Bianca Del Rio and Lady Bunny have given unapologetic performances that have put them in hot water.
Trixie is now experiencing some backlash from fans after a video of her set at the roast has surfaced.
It goes a little like this:
I couldn’t decide what to wear so I wore this. It’s just like a cotton. Latrice picked it.
After some laughter and awkward moment groaning, Trixie responds:
Oh, is that too far, Denver? What did you forget to invite your black friends tonight?
Now, the joke is double-sided, meaning that Latrice Royale selected what outfit she should wear for the evening. It also implies Latrice, who is black, in case you don’t know, picked the cotton from which the dress is made.
Is this joke racist? Absolutely and in today’s woke society it is no surprise that the people’s beloved Trixie is getting some heat for it.
But now months later, the video of Trixie started to get some traction and fans were expecting an apologize or justification for the joke.
Instead, Trixie tweeted this on July 4th:
Drag queens have professional and personal relationships that derive from generations of ballroom culture. Throwing shade and reading each other is part of the uniqueness of being a drag queen. But is there a limit to humor? Are there places we just don’t go? Do we not hit below the belt at the risk of popping someone’s tuck? And more importantly, is Trixie hiding her racism or was this a joke that was meant to be controversial, but harmless?
We have seen some major names in the world of comedy have to make public apologies because of their joke choices. The huge scandal surrounding Roseanne Barr and her racist tweets about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett caused the Roseanne revival to be scrapped and people to lose their jobs. Roseanne has since given some ‘too little too late’ apologies that people are just not accepting. Last year, Real Housewives of Atlanta's NeNe Leakes was booed off stage when she made an inappropriate joke about an audience member saying she wished she would get raped by her Uber driver. The bad joke and the repercussions was of a huge topic on last season’s RHOA on Bravo.
So my question is–should all comedians, no matter how big or small, be held accountable for what they say on stage? Surely, Trixie Mattel is not the first drag queen to deliver such a touchy joke. These shows usually have jokes about AIDS, rape, body image, race—where are those videos? It just so happens that Trixie got clocked on this one so she is being targeted.
And what does Latrice think about the joke? Seems like she’s more preoccupied with this:
Okay, don’t judge me for THAT joke now!
Perhaps Katya said it best in this tweet that was echoed by Bob the Drag Queen:
What do you all think? Does Trixie’s joke make her racist or are people being too sensitive?
This was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers.
h/t: US Weekly
Slaveowner privileges are for
Slaveowner privileges are for straight whites!
The difference between what
The difference between what Rosanne said and Tricia said is whether the butt of the joke was in on it. Latrice was participating in a roast and during a roast, NOTHING is off limits. Besides we want our queens like our trees; shady as fuck.
The joke is insensitive, not
The joke is insensitive, not racist. There’s a huge difference. She didn’t say black people were lesser than her. It was a dumb joke, but she’s a drag queen. They say offensive things all the time. Look at Bianca del Rio or even RuPaul herself.