RuPaul's Drag Race returned this week
for an eighth season on Logo.
The reality drag contest's host,
RuPaul, recently opened up about the show's impact on gay/drag
culture around the world.
“When I was coming up, I had mentors
who taught me about Tennessee Williams and Tallulah Bankhead and
Truman Capote and [Federico] Fellini – all that stuff,” RuPaul
said in an interview with Billboard's
Pop Shop Podcast. “That sort of went away at one point....So
I'm so proud of Drag Race for taking up the slack in that
department, because so many young kids around the world … get to
watch Drag Race and learn about Paris Is Burning or
Grey Gardens.”
“At Drag Race and through my
music, I sort of carry the torch of the gay movement, the drag
movement. Really, the outsider movement,” he added.
RuPaul also discussed his new album
Butch Queen.
“[The album is] called Butch Queen
because I'm really paying homage to drag,” RuPaul said. “You
know, drag queens are like the Marines of the LGBT movement. Drag
queens show up, they suit up, and they're ready to serve. Butch
Queen is really paying homage to that. It's as if I had a vogue
ball, this album would be the soundtrack to it.”