Queen of America

The story of the Rupol - a two -meter man dressed in a woman who has become one of the most popular US TV presenters

On March 22, the tenth season of the “Dreg-town of the Rupol” was started-a television show in which men compete for the right to be called a new superstar of Draig : they dance, joke, sew costumes and experiment with makeup. The Rupol himself-the TV presenter, the actor, the singer and the most famous drag-korolev planet-won Emmy for two years in a row as the best host of the reality show, and on March 19 he was awarded the star at the Hollywood Alley of Glory. Journalist Rita Popova tells how the marginal artist of the gay scene became a real pop star and favorite of America.

"Star ass"

According to legend, before the birth of the Rupol Andre Charles, the Gadalka promised his mother that universal glory was waiting for the child. He walked to this since childhood: he walked around the Hollywood boulevard for hours, looking at the stars on the "Avenue of Glory" and copied the performances of Diana Ross. However, at fifteen, Rupol went to Atlanta and sold cars for the next six years. For the first time, he first went to the stage (albeit an unknown local club) at the age of 21.

There were the 80s in the yard, who call the golden era of Draig: it was then that the famous drags appeared, and the club scene attracted famous artists and artists-from Keith Haring to Andy Warhol, whom Rupol admired . Most of the Drag-Korolev of that time exploited the aesthetics of glamor and luxury, but the Rupol was not interested in extreme femininity, but the games with identity and the opportunity to speak out. “I realized very early that the drag is an ideal tool to cause the reaction of the public. Dreg can be compared with the power that Superman's costume gives, ”Rupol said in an interview with Out Magazine.

So appeared (or appeared - it does not matter how exactly he is addressed; biologically he is a man) Ropol: a two -meter model, a dancer and a singer without a false chest, in heavy boots, a torn shirt and with smeared lipstick. This was defiant not only by the standards of conservatives, but also for gay community; The honored queens treated him like a rebel and a punk, with a mixture of pity and contempt. But the Rupol did not stop. He did not shy away any methods of self -promotion: he put up the home -made posters "Rupol is all!" And he issued brochures with his own quotes. He starred in the trilogy of low-budget home-made films "Star ass", where he portrayed a secret agent-spermel. He collected several musical groups, wrote books and sold postcards. And ten years later he moved to New York.

World supermodel

The New York gay scene at that time was experiencing the consequences of the AIDS epidemic, which claimed the lives of many drag-korolev and artists. “It looked like we appeared on the funeral: orepol in jeans microshortes and bright T -shirts, and I am like a liberach on a rave,” says Rupol's friend, DJ Larry Ty. “Times demanded optimism, and for many we were an outlet.”

After a year of his life in New York, Rupopa ran into a crisis: he was recognized in a club environment, but no more. In addition, the drag in the form in which Rupol used it was not profitable; People wanted more glamor and gloss. Thus, his next image appeared , inspired by dancers from a musical TV show about Soul, Funk and Disco Soul Train. “My drag has become sexy: short skirts, shaved legs,” recalls Ropol. “I even put my socks into the bra, so that it seemed as if I had a chest.” That's when I began to truly earn money, people realized: wow, this is a beauty! ” Rupol says that when he danced Gow-Gow, even heterosexual men gave him money.

In 1989, Rupol became Drag-Korolev Manhattan, which was the most prestigious title of the city club scene-and decided to break through to the mainstream. To do this, he had to rejoice himself again, make the image even more acceptable. The mines of the nineties (as even those who did not know that this was a disguised man) is a singing “supermodel”, a self -named Miss Black America. That is how - “Supermodel of the World” - was called his first album, and the first real hit. The single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” rejected all the studios except Tommy Boy Records, an independent label specializing in hip-hop and electronics, and launched, in particular, Queen Latifah's career. The song, in which Rupol ironically put himself on a par with the Linda of the Evangelist, Naomi Campbell and other supermodels of the 90s, became one of the main dance hits of 1993, and Kurt Cobain called it one of his favorite records.

After that, Rupol was in every TV of America. "How will you love others if you can’t love yourself?" -He uttered this phrase on The Arsenio Hall Show entertaining television show in 1993, and repeats it for 25 years, in every performance, in the final of each series of his own reality show. A tall dressed man in a luxurious wig of became a favorite of the general public and inspired the next generation of Drag-Korolev. Almost all participants and winners of Rupulʼs Drag Race recall this period as the time when they felt heard and witnessed. “Previously, in the cinema and on television, a man needed a reason to be in the drag. But not the Rupol. He said: “I want to be in the drag because I look amazing - do you disagree?” And the world agreed, ” says Dreg-Koroleva Lady Banny, a longtime friend of Rupol.

However, the drag for Rupol has always been something more than just a show. He loved to say that every time he waves his eyelashes, he makes a political gesture. In the 90s, Rupol became not only the most popular drag artist in the world, but also one of the most striking defenders of LGBT rights. At a rally for the rights of a gay community in Washington in 1993, which gathered hundreds of thousands of people, Rupol flew on stage and shouted: “Next year we will capture the White House and paint it in pink!” “And at that moment I realized: Ripol is our leader,” recalls the executive producer Rupulʼs Drag Race Tom Campbell.

In 1994, Rupol wrote a duet with Elton John “Donaff GO Breaking My Heart” (Caveta to the hit of Elton John and Kiki Dee 1976). The song sounded from everywhere, the clip was spinning even in Russia on the 2 × 2 TV channel. Two years later, Rupol began his own show: on the WKTU radio station and VH1. Guests from Diana Ross and Cher to NʼSync and Backstreet Boys visited his talk show by The Rupaul Show, however, the idea of ​​a television program with a homosexual host in Drage was still embarrassed not only of some spectators, but also for advertisers. The channel had to close the program after a hundred issues, and Rupol, being without television and musical contracts, took a pause at almost eight years.

The next level of human evolution

The Rupola has been offered to lead a reality show many times, but he invariably refused, considering the genre himself played and evil. However, friends and his personal managers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, the founders of the World of Wonder production studio, persuaded. “I did not want to engage in a project that could expose the drag in a negative light or ridiculed it, but the spirit of time has changed, and my opinion, too,” recalls Ropol. - The era of Obama began and I felt with all the guts that time had come. ”

So Rupulʼs Drag Race appeared: a reality show in which the drag-korolev competes in acting skills, a sense of humor, the ability to sew, dance and present themselves. The first episode of the show was released in 2009 on the Logo TV channel, and over the next nine years the budget and the audience of the show have grown many times. For example, the winner is entitled not only by the title of a new DREG-Superzvets, but also by a monetary prize that has grown five times and now is 100 thousand dollars. The participants in the show now have millions of subscribers on Instagram, and Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid, Bjork and dozens of other celebrities call themselves fans of the transfer.

This breakthrough in the mainstream has the opposite side. The television show is criticized that it legitimizes only one side of the drag - and the queen with other views and style are considered second -grade artists. The Brooklyn Queen Charlene says in an interview with The New York Times that the success on Rupulʼs Drag Race is equivalent to success in the drag: "The queens are adjusted to how to look and how to behave, instead of focusing on their vision."

The creators of the show believe that from him anyway is much more benefit than harm. “People come to Dregkon as families,” says Michelm, a boss, co -host Rupaulʼs Drag Race and a long -standing friend of Rupol. -There is nothing more touching than seeing the mothers of Quir-, Bi- or Trans-Detany, who come with them and support them. People believe that the mainstream is a abusive word. <...> But the mainstream saves life. "

According to the presenter himself, his vocation is to teach people the adoption of otherness, and his show convey these ideas both to the LGBT Auditor and to numerous heterosexual spectators. “We live in the egocentric world, and our president [Donald Trump] is the personification of the ego,” he argues in an interview with Vogue. - Dreg is an ideal way to confront this. The ego says “I am better than you”, and Dreg says that you are not what you should dress and not what is written in your birth certificate. ”

Now the 57-year-old Rupol is a figure, which is significantly comparable in American culture with the Winfrey poll or the head of the Krdashian clan, Chris Jenner. A year ago, he was released by the eleventh Musical album “American”, inspired by the US presidential election, Time magazine included it in the list of 100 most influential people in 2017, he appeared in the series “Girlboss” (Girlboss) and “Blag City”, and Jay Abrams produces the series based on his life for a streaming service for a streaming service Hulu.

Rupol himself jokes that he always sought to become a supermodel, and not a role model. In an interview with Coprey Winfrey in February 2018, he says : “I am all and nothing at the same time. I am black, white, man, woman. For me, seeing all the facets of myself is the next level of human evolution. ”

Rita Popova