We Need To Talk About Kameron Michaels!
Is The Muscle Queen Too Fit For Drag Race?
As most of the LGBTQ community, I’ve been keeping up with the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Mainly because I don’t want to be left in the dark with the endless amount of Vanessa Vanjie Mateo memes. Speaking of the obvious Fan Favorite, please allow me to scream her name once more – #MISSVANJIE!
Moving forward: We’ve been on a wild ride all season where this is no obvious winner, unlike Bob The Drag Queen, Sharon Needles, and Jinkx Monsoon. One of my fellow Instinct Contributors has been teeter tottering with power rankings all season, most of which I can get on board with. However, the stand out Queen this season to me has simply been under edited and it’s driving me bonkers.
I’m talking about current contestant and Muscle Queen, Kameron Michaels. I may be a little biased, on my personal social media, I’ve encountered Michaels on and off for the last few years as I’m familiar with his friendship with Aurora Sexton – you know, the girl who started an uproar last summer after calling out diva antics of Drag Race Queens. I was absolutely pumped to see someone tackle Drag Race after peeping them on and off.
On paper, Michaels is a fit for a winner and an annoying fanbase: He’s attractive, feminine, and young. Unfortunately for Michaels, his personality has been lacking on screen due to poor edit. I believe, in his real life, Michaels doesn’t try to do the most. I don’t believe he walks around town twerking or screaming in public for attention. What I can see from my screen is someone who is talented but doesn’t want to be that loud, obnoxious voice demanding to stand out in a crowd. We’ve seen a handful of Queens on this show who are willing to make asses of themselves on camera and it never pays off (The Vixen, Derrick Barry, Phi Phi O’Hara), so why are we – and the edit – being so hard on Michaels for being the literal term of congenial?
Often someone will reference Michaels’ quiet demeanor and there will be a chime added in which is basically a snore. Should we not fall for Michaels because he’s not an outrageous, over-the-top-Henney type of Queen the series wants us to believe is every Drag Queen?
We’ve recently covered Eureka O’Hara being shoved down our throats. I frankly am rooting for Eureka to take the entire show, so I’m fine with her being essentially the Narrator of the season. But, we’ve gotten blips of Miz Cracker’s upbringing, Asia O’Hara’s struggle, Aquaria’s god-awful attitude, and yet nothing from Michaels. Sure, one may argue Michaels’ soft spoken, kind nature doesn’t translate well to entertain a reality television show audience: But, while watching the show, I can’t help but realize everyone gets a better edit compared to Michaels. It was hard to even recognize Michaels as a contestant until episode five. Unfortunately, I cannot see Michaels' edit leading him to a victory – but his creativity and talent may push him into the finale.
Are we led to believe you must be a particular type to win this series? It appears the louder you are, the quicker you cry – the farther you’ll get. Again, I’m hypocritical as I would love to see Eureka – or anyone besides Aquaria – win, but it’s just a bit eye opening to say the least. I’d hate for incredibly talented Queens who are soft spoken to refrain from auditioning because they don’t want to be pegged as boring. Ouch.
Do you believe Michaels’ quiet edit eliminates him as a contender the crown?
This was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.
My dream top four: Mz.
My dream top four: Mz. Kracker, Asia, Michaels & Aquaria. I know people don't dig on Aquaria, but you do get a queen who speaks truth. Her attitude is no different than gays in the real world (mean). Eureka is definitely MESSY!!!! and does not deserve to win. Even quiet Michaels has called her out about being MESSY. Michaels is not quiet, she is just playing the game and cheers to her for that. So if she makes it to the top three, I won't be surprised, she just knew how to play the game. What she did to Asia at Dragcon shows how messy Eureka is. Team Asia & Mz. Kracker!!!
Did you skip season 9? What
Did you skip season 9? What about Sasha Velour? She is soft spoken and quiet as you describe. The difference is that Sasha is fearless and has concepts that create strong human connections. Kameron (who is also very talented) in the other hand is still struggling to find her place in the world and accept herself. See her fear of straight people.