Yahoo News Every 'Drag Race' Season 15 Controversy & Yes, There Were A Lot!
All the drama, mama!
MTV
In many ways, the overarching theme of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 was “basic to basics.” Not only was this a 15-year anniversary celebration of the flagship series, but it was also the first season to air on MTV – introducing this franchise to an even broader audience.
With queens like Mistress Isabelle Brooks serving old-school drag, contestants like Loosey LaDuca getting the classic “delusional” edit from the show, and underdogs like Anetra rising to the end of the competition, season 15 was a collection of some of our favorite things within the Drag Race franchise. Given that so much happened over the course of this season, let’s revisit some of the feuds, fights, and controversies that will go down in herstory!
Scroll through to see the most memorable controversies and dramatic moments that we will remember from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15.
The shorter episodes to make space for ‘The Real Friends of WeHo.’
\u201cMTV cuts \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 episodes to one hour.\n\nThe reason for the shortened episodes is \u2018to build a destination night by using the existing hit franchise to launch a new series like The Real Friends of WeHo,\u2019 @DEADLINE reports.\n\n\ud83d\udd17: https://t.co/bgeXMzkUIU\u201d
— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1672969866
“MTV cuts ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ episodes to one hour. The reason for the shortened episodes is ‘to build a destination night by using the existing hit franchise to launch a new series like The Real Friends of WeHo,’ @DEADLINE reports. 🔗: https://t.co/bgeXMzkUIU”
The first and most chaotic controversy behind Drag Race season 15 was the shortening of the episodes from 90 minutes to 60 minutes in order to make room for a new LGBTQ+ show on MTV, The Real Friends of WeHo.
This led to a huge backlash among Drag Race fans, and even inspired a Change.org petition urging MTV to bring back the 90-minute episodes. Well, it worked, as the network did go back to 90-minute episodes of Drag Race following the end of Real Friends of WeHo.
The ballroom response to Anetra’s talent show number.
ANETRA✨ on Instagram: "I’m a mother ducking winner baby! 🏁💖🤬🦆 #talentshow #dragrace"
Anetra dazzled the judges and the fans with her variety show performance that involved ballroom elements and coined the catchphrase “walk that f*cking duck.” Certain notable figures within ballroom were not as excited about it, however.
After the double premiere of season 15 aired, people in the ballroom scene shared their concerns about drag performers just casually borrowing elements from ballroom culture. Some people also labeled Anetra’s voguing skills as “noguing.” Nonetheless, Anetra constantly got praise on Drag Race and within the fanbase of the show.
Luxx Noir London vs. Trinity The Tuck’s ongoing drama.
\u201c@luxxnoirlondon Sweets, I don\u2019t HAVE to say you did great. You have a nasty attitude and that\u2019s why I haven\u2019t rooted for you. I never said you weren\u2019t a good queen. You have done great. I just don\u2019t like you. Now are we done? Ok. Have a great night.\u201d
— LUXX NOIR LONDON \u22c6\uff61\u00b0\u2729 (@LUXX NOIR LONDON \u22c6\uff61\u00b0\u2729) 1680459880
“@luxxnoirlondon Sweets, I don’t HAVE to say you did great. You have a nasty attitude and that’s why I haven’t rooted for you. I never said you weren’t a good queen. You have done great. I just don’t like you. Now are we done? Ok. Have a great night.”
Luxx Noir London and Trinity The Tuck were at odds for most of Drag Race season 15. It all started when Luxx chose to impersonate Amanda Lepore for the Snatch Game and claimed that no one had done that well on the show. Given that Trinity had impersonated Lepore in season nine, drama ensued.
The feud between Luxx and Trinity had dozens of back-and-forth tweets. However, it all boiled down to Luxx feeling like Trinity shouldn’t come for her as a Drag Race alum who understands how the show is edited. Meanwhile, Trinity (who won the Snatch Game on both All Stars 4 and All Stars 7) felt like Luxx’s comments were totally uncalled-for.
Mistress Isabelle Brooks vs. Bob The Drag Queen’s hilarious feud.
Mistress Issabout To Get Dragged!!!!! Ft. Salina EsTitties
Another feud that took place over the course of season 15 happened between Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Bob The Drag Queen. Unlike Luxx vs. Trinity, though, there was absolutely nothing serious or real about Mistress vs. Bob.
Instead, Mistress and Bob released hilarious diss tracks about each other and kept up a fake beef all over social media that had the fans laughing for a whole week. This served as a fabulous Drag Race blueprint of how queens can read each other to filth, create content, and generate buzz without anyone actually getting hurt on either side.
Malaysia Babydoll Foxx vs. Luxx Noir London over the word “bullying.”
\u201c"Let me express myself and feel how I feel in this moment." \ud83d\udc40 Tensions ran high during #Untucked when the convo circled back to Metalgate! \u26d3\ud83c\udfb8\u201d
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaul's Drag Race) 1675481400
“"Let me express myself and feel how I feel in this moment." 👀 Tensions ran high during #Untucked when the convo circled back to Metalgate! ⛓🎸”
One Untucked moment that had the fans shaking in their boots was the argument between Malaysia Babydoll Foxx and Luxx Noir London in the aftermath of the so-called “Metalgate.”
In essence, Luxx’s group and Malaysia’s group both wanted to do the metal genre of music for a particular maxi challenge. Luxx felt like she was just having fun and standing her ground in the discussion, but Malaysia later revealed that she felt “bullied” by her costars.
Salina EsTitties vs. Ross Mathews.
\u201cA message from @SalinaEstitties to @helloross \n\nLos Angeles appreciate you Estitties! You did an amazing job!\n\n#rupaulsdragrace #rupaulsdragrace15 #dragrace #salinaestitties\u201d
— Top Gay Newz (@Top Gay Newz) 1679115580
“A message from @SalinaEstitties to @helloross Los Angeles appreciate you Estitties! You did an amazing job! #rupaulsdragrace #rupaulsdragrace15 #dragrace #salinaestitties”
Salina EsTitties was not happy with Ross Mathews’ critiques of her runway look after she was eliminated from season 15. As a result, EsTitties ended up throwing some major shade toward Mathews while at a club gig. “You can eat my ass, [f-word]. What the f*ck does he know about fashion?” EsTitties told the live audience. “I should have been wearing a black bodysuit? Look at what the f*ck you’re wearing, you sequined sweater jacket ass little b*tch.”
To be clear: EsTitties and Mathews have spoken since then and have made amends. Everything has been resolved between the contestant and the judge. Nonetheless, this moment will still go down in Drag Race herstory.
Mistress Isabelle Brooks’ Instagram is taken down multiple times.
\u201c\u2026 just woke up to get ready for my gig and my @instagram is disabled yet again. What happened to the days when y\u2019all would just send death threats? \ud83e\udd70\u201d
— Mistress Isabelle Brooks (@Mistress Isabelle Brooks) 1674535635
“… just woke up to get ready for my gig and my @instagram is disabled yet again. What happened to the days when y’all would just send death threats? 🥰”
Mistress Isabelle Brooks’ Instagram account was taken down several times over the course of Drag Race season 15, and it seems like this happened whenever she said anything even slightly negative about thin white queens such as Sugar, Spice, and Marcia Marcia Marcia.
This showed yet again that a loud portion of Drag Race fans tend to target queens of color, as well as “big girls,” in order to defend their favorite – typically white, typically thin – queens on the show.
Marcia Marcia Marcia calls out her fans.
Marcia Marcia Marcia on Instagram: "@rupaulsdragrace @mtv @instagram"
Thankfully, Marcia Marcia Marcia did call out her fans in direct response to Mistress Isabelle Brooks’ Instagram being taken down multiple times. “I would just like to say for the 1000th time that I do not support this. I do not appreciate it,” Marcia said in an Instagram video. “It makes me feel really awful because I cannot do anything to help her. You are literally attacking a person you do not know for something that literally happened, like, a year ago.”
Marcia added, “And this kind of abuse isn’t just affecting Mistress. Shocker of the century: it is disproportionally affecting the queens in our cast who are not thin white people. We all follow each other, we have a group chat. We talk almost every single day. Everything is fine. There are no active conflicts in the real world. So stop doing this because you are creating them.”
Loosey LaDuca’s “delusional” edit.
\u201cMe in the workroom.\u201d
— Loosey LaDuca (@Loosey LaDuca) 1677803484
“Me in the workroom.”
It had been some time since a queen had such a strong “delusional” edit on Drag Race, which is something that used to happen on basically every single season of the show back in the day. On season 15, this reality TV archetype went to Loosey LaDuca, whose edit on the show was giving old-school Laganja Estranja and even drew a few comparisons to Jan’s season 12 edit.
There’s absolutely no way that someone can walk away from watching season 15 without remembering how LaDuca was portrayed on the show. Fortunately, her original song “Let Loose” has become a huge viral hit, and this queen also seems like a shoo-in for an All Stars season.
The rumors of a dancer getting injured at the finale.
\u201cThis is her moment! \ud83e\udeb7 @iamanetra turned it OUT in a performance of her original song, \u201cLotus\u201d \ud83c\udfb6 #DragRace\u201d
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaul's Drag Race) 1681517571
“This is her moment! 🪷 @iamanetra turned it OUT in a performance of her original song, “Lotus” 🎶 #DragRace”
According to certain individuals who attended the live taping of the Drag Race season 15 finale, a dancer got severely injured during Anetra’s solo performance. Given that this was the very first performance of the night, the show was one dancer down for the rest of the night.
Overall, this meant that all of the solo performances seen at the grand finale had one extra dancer, but had to go through last-minute changes given that one dancer was no longer able to perform his duties.
