Tyra Sanchez is best known for winning the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race show. Tyra may or may not be announced as one of the all-star members for the 2016 season, but there were no new fans to be had after Tyra’s weekend antics on Twitter. Like all semi-celebrities (or greater), Tyra ran into some opposition. Not everyone loves everyone, and Tyra took things so personally that she told a Tweeter something terrible. Tyra told the non-fan to go kill themselves.
Girl kill yourself https://t.co/lEIl4XAiOV
— Tyra Sanchez (@iTyra) August 10, 2015
Then this happened, which Tyra deleted. Tyra should have deleted all of these tweets, or better yet, never tweeted this stuff in the first place.
Oh, it got even messier. Tyra attempted to justify the insensitive words, which are apparently an internet colloquialism. Tyra tweeted a reference to “go kill yourself” in the Urban Dictionary with these words as a followup: “For those of you that have me fifty shades of f***ed up, this is a special invitation for you 2 go kill yourself.” Nice. Tyra also Instagrammed this terrible explanation, which did not help.
Tyra was not finished yet! Tyra couldn’t stop and continued to antagonize her followers with irresponsible, insensitive statements.
"If u want 2kill urself kill what u dont like. I had an old self that I killed. U can kill urself 2 but that doesnt mean u got2stop living."
— Tyra Sanchez (@iTyra) August 15, 2015
That part tho ✌🏾️ pic.twitter.com/qPqzzAAUgU
— Tyra Sanchez (@iTyra) August 16, 2015
I have to admit this tweet was vaguely amsing, but seriously. Tyra should know so much better than to tell someone, “joke” or not, to go kill themselves.
I can't even enjoy @AZEALIABANKS music without hearing about her popping off on someone. Why is she that way? I thought I was a bitch. 😒
— Tyra Sanchez (@iTyra) August 3, 2015
Photos courtesy of WENN
I really don’t get to why drag acts are still a thing. You have a member of the privileged group dressing and acting in stereotyped exaggerations which demean the unprivileged group they are using as a costume. Drag characters are invariably vain, shallow, obsessed with looks, shrill & bitchy, ring any bells? Most progressive people agree it’s not on when those with white privilege play dress up as POC but yet we’re supposed to be OK with drag acts?
Yeah no. No to your entire comment.
It’s not just cis women feminists who have voiced arguments against drag performances: many trans people disapprove of drag queens as well. They feel that, in a time when many or even most consider trans women to be confused men playing dress-up, drag harms and disrespects the trans community.
Sadly, “Yeah no” doesn’t suffice as an argument against Neonscream.
Actually, it IS enough. Look up the history of drag, educate yourself, come back. Then we can talk. Maybe also explain who the privileged group is supposed to be.
Drag does not in and of itself harm the trans community. That’s like saying short skirts harm feminism.
littlemissnaughty: You comment, though, is incomplete. There have been plenty of trans people who have expressed concern about drag. One of drag’s big problems is that it tends to view trans people as outside it. Have you ever actually sat and watched drag race? It’s been called out plenty of times by trans people – the “She mail” segment was the most visible, but the show also has a major problem with the use of the term (and I’m sorry if this is offensive) “tranny.” They say it constantly. There was also a season in which one of the contestants (I think it was Tatiana?) talked about how she used to love passing as female out in public and some other people jumped all over her for possibly being a “tranny” as opposed to just being a drag queen. One of the former contestants did come out as trans after the show and talked a whole lot about the problematic aspects of the show and drag in general. Somehow it seems like you missed that part.
@ Sam: My comment is incomplete because I didn’t address ever problematic aspect of a reality show? I’m not going to go into the debate over the word “tranny” because I’m neither a drag queen not transgender so I don’t think I get to decide whether it’s okay to use and by whom/when. My issue with the OP was that drag is much more than men “playing dress-up” and until Neonscream understands that, there’s no point in arguing. When the basics are understood, we can get into the specifics. My comment was that drag as such does not harm the trans community. Are some drag queens offensive? Probably, they’re people. Is Drag Race a beacon of political correctness? No, it’s a reality show.
I mean do trans people really get to tell drag queens what to do? Do cis women? Why is it that we feel we have the right to tell drag queens how to express that side of themselves? It feels really rich that trans people and feminists – people who SHOULD be fighting hard for people’s rights to free gender expression – want to dump on drag queens. I don’t own femininity, I don’t have exclusive rights to how it’s expressed or by whom. And people wonder why modern feminism has an inclusivity problem, sheesh.
Have you ever seen RuPaul perform as his female character? She is so good that when I first saw her, I honestly didn’t know there was a man behind the character. I just thought it was a very funny and clever character. I never get that feeling of being insulted along with half the human species from RuPaul (which yes, I’ve felt with other men doing a female character).
Flip Wilson had a variety of characters he played in his comedy, both male and female. He was another one who didn’t seem to be insulting us in his female characters. He really took on the character in a very real way. They were funny, but had depth and the humor didn’t come from “oh, look at me, I’m a man pretending to be a dippy woman”.
So it really depends on the skill and intelligence of the performer and whether or not they respect their characters and the women on which they are based. The men who do a bad job of female characters probably aren’t very good with any kind of character, and just resort to easy stereotypes to get a laugh.
Yeah, while normally I am all for inclusive womanhood (basically, anyone who wants to adopt the gender should feel free to do so), with drag queens I feel like I’m being mocked…
I used to dislike drag for that reason. Then I watched some videos of well known performers, watched Drag Race…and the behaviors and looks they do are so over the top and so unrelatable as an actual woman that I stopped feeling like it had anything whatsoever to do with me and just saw it for whatever it’s supposed to be. Just fun dress-up I guess??
As for people who are trans, I can see why they worry about people confusing the terms, or worry people think they are same thing, but you’d have to be pretty dumb to think theyr’e same thing and I don’t think a whole genre of generally harmless entertainment should be abolished to appeal to the lowest denominator.
Its a shame that you feel offended, as that is not the point or aim of drag. Perhaps have a little Google and read up, or watch some shows on YouTube. As a straight woman, watching drag really helped me to accept that it doesnt matter what you look like, you can be happy to be a woman. If anything, drag mocks the straight, white male view of being feminine and challenges the social norms. Like jwoolman said, it takes talent and skill to be a good queen.
Drag queens don’t offend me, but your patronizing tone does.
I have spent my life in theater and performance, and am knowledgeable of the history of drag. But it’s also worth looking at the context and sociological history of performing femininity and the position of women, and thinking about where drag fits in all that.
I am a woman who thoroughly enjoys drag acts. I love the fact that drag queens fully embrace the fierceness of the female form. They are able to do so without being bogged down by the baggage that comes with being a woman. I wish I was a able to embrace the power within me without worrying about constraints. Their irreverence and attitude allows them to say things that need to be said without worrying about political correctness. It allows for a controversial conversation to begin because they don’t give a damn. Drag queens are people too and you have the good, the bad and the ugly like in any demographic. Painting them all with the same brush is highly unfair. For every insensitive performer there is a Rupaul or a Lady Bunny. If you were to read their interviews ( especially lady Bunny’s around the time of this years wig stock) you’d realize that there’s more to them than a loud mouth.
I actually went “Who?” I love Drag Race and there have been so many amazing talented queens, Tyra not so much. “Go kill yourself” is a stupid response to haters, but she’s not being literal.
The problem is that sarcasm does not translate well in a medium like Twitter. So if someone severely depressed were the target of that Tweet, it could actually do real harm.
Her season his still on netflix, I had to skip her episode when she won because during the show she was the most entitled narcissistic queen. Every challenge she wouldn’t help her other team players and you could see she thought she was above the others. She was so immature I think during the series she was 21 or 22 and five years later she is still acting the same way. On a side note I am loving a Drag race post!
Amen– let’s not be so politically correct that we serve bland over bland. “Kill yourself” wasn’t literal, we can’t keep hyperanalyzing and giving weight to words of people who honestly, are not known for them. I’m surprised Tyra Sanchez was able to make any sentence without using the word “Buh-yon-SAY”
And besides:
If you are the type of person who would kill yourself because TYRA SANCHEZ told you, good riddance. Everyone knows you only obey that directive if it’s delivered by a queen on level of Raja Gemini, Raven or the queen herself, RuPaul.
It’s just shade, not a death warrant.
This. And Tyra never deserved the crown that year Raven and JuJubee were robbed. Tyra has always been mean spirited and a big old betch.
omg the picture with the purple dress made me cringe, what the hell ?
The eyes are terrifying
Yes, those eyes totally freaked me out!
I had to change my duds after seeing those eyes.
See I adore that picture.
I remember as a child being so thrilled with boy George’s full drag phrase in the video for ‘war is stupid’ – oddly, his sexuality never registered with me. I just thought he was a very beautiful drag queen.
I love it when they are so OTT.
My friend who’s 20 says this all the time. It’s a thing now. I am too old to think of it sarcastically.
Off topic, but this is a genuine question. What is the difference between a transsexual, a drag queen/King, transgender? I understand that sexuality isn’t part of the equation, so i’m becoming more and more stumped as new terms come into being.
EG transsexual used to cover entire spectrum whether it only about being a drag Queen/King or being transgender.
Has the term transsexual been retired completely because it has no relevance anymore?
Help!!
I think the key difference is that drag King/Queens are performers, they strip all of it away and call it a night after their set.
Trans people live their everyday lives as their preferred sex, they are not performing.
Yes, RuPaul calls himself a gay man. He is not his female character in real life. He was on Sabrina the Teen-Aged Witch once both as his male self (he played a warlock judge) and as his female character.
The man behind the female character (with the beard!) who won Eurovision also says he is a gay man. And he doesn’t have much of a beard, his female alter ego is “enhanced” beard-wise. He is also a singer, but he does not sing the same as his female character. I saw her in an interview, and she was really good. Never broke character.
Of course, a man doesn’t have to be gay in order to do a female character well. I don’t know where the term “drag” comes from. I just see it as performing characters. Maybe gay men are more comfortable with the really good characterizations (as opposed to the deliberately sloppy ones, because heaven forbid anybody think they’re gay) because they’re already marching to a different drummer and they don’t worry about people thinking they’re gay…
@jwoolman: The term “drag” goes back to the times when women weren’t allowed to act in theatres and all roles were played by men. So, naturally, the men played all female roles as well. In the script then was the addition “dressed as a girl” – in short: drag. 🙂
Drag queens are a great and important part of culture nowaday, not just within the LGBT – community, but in general. Of course, they are all about looks and they exaggerate – that’s their job. 😉
Most people within the LGBT-community (mainly gay men, sadly) forget one important thing: drag queens and cross-dressers started the riots back then at the “Stonewall”, they were a strong (if not the strongest) force in that events.
Over here in Germany, there is actually kind of a discussion within the community, that prides are “too loud, too outrageous, too gay” – directed at drags, cross-dressers and SM-people. This discussion makes me want to vomit, I can’t eat that much as I want to vomit. Honestly. All those people urgendtly need to remember the “Stonewall” and the Christpher Street.
(The man with the beard is Conchita Wurst and her album is very good. 😉 )
@Lostara – Yay! I love Conchita Wurst! 🙂 I’m from Austria and I’m so happy Wurst is getting so much coverage. She is immensely talented and sends out such a positive & wonderfully embracing message. Love her.
I’m no expert, but my understanding is that transsexual/transgender is regarding a physical, medical change to live as the gender they feel they should be, and drag is just aesthetic and for fun or performing.
Hopefully someone with more info can weigh in on this too.
A drag performer takes on the persona of the opposite gender but will usually tell you that they like being their gender, a la RuPaul. Nobody says transexual/vestite anymore. A transgendered person is living as a member of their nonphysical sex because of their self identification is as such. People who like to dress in the rather normative clothes of the other gender are just called crossdressers.
Thank you ladies. That was very helpful.
We are all made of stars: one more question regarding your answer. I’d always thought the term cross dresser was rather derogatory and would be received as an insult, so i’ve never used it. Are you saying it’s perfectly normal to call someone a crossdresser?
And is the difference between crossdressing and drag a stage to perform on? To clarify, drag and cross dressing are the same thing, but drag is the hyper feminine look as demonstrated by the subject of this post whilst crossdressing is normal life doing normal things whilst wearing other gender clothing?
To use an example if my prior clarification was muddled, where does Eddie Izzard fall since he likes to perform in drag, but also lives his everyday normal life wearing articles of women’s clothing.
@LAK: No, “cross-dresser” is not an insult.
A cross-dresser simply is a person who doesn’t care about gender-roles, who wears the clothes he (or she) likes – no matter if that are “male” or “female” clothes. But, in opposite to drag – queens, they dress like that in their everyday-life and not just for a stage performance.
Examples I can name are the character “Jack Fairy” from the movie “Velvet Goldmine” (just google him, he is delicious….. ) or make-up artist Jeffree Star (who looks great in a mini-dress……)
Edit: I just saw – you have it quite right in your post! 🙂
In olden times, Transvestite used to refer to a person who got sexual gratification from dressing up as a member of the opposite gender – think men who enjoyed wearing ladies’ underthings. Although I have not heard the term transvestite used seriously for quite some time, I think it’s fallen out of favor.
Sam: thank you! That clears up another set of confused notions I had. I used to think that transvestite referred to cross dressing, irrespective of sexual aspect, and a transsexual was transgendered person.
@LAK: I think that is basically how those two words worked, yes. At least, that’s how I remember it.
Thank you for asking LAK. I have to admit I struggled with this too.
You are welcome and i’m so happy about all the replies.
Even though it’s possible to google this stuff, sometimes a discussion is much more helpful in clarifying points.
Ru, you betta come over here and get your baby girl. This clown is straight up proving why Raven or Jujubee should’ve won.
@daisyfly THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also, i know that there are people out there that are dealing with suicide so you have to be careful with what you say but this whole twitter rant kinda made me LOL.
sorry, i know its very “un-pc” but it did.
Love Raven!!!
+1
I love Raven, but I adore Jujubee! She and Latrice are the two RPDR queens I’d most want to hang out with.
Word. I’m still angry about this win. Most years I get why the Queen that won…Won. Not S2…Tyra was just a catty betch when Raven and Juju were soo much more charismatic.
Dumb thing to say, followed by even dumber back-pedaling. I think it’s pointless to respond to hateful non-fans, though I’m sure it’s tempting. I wonder what the non-fan said to her? What a world. Oy.
I can’t even begin to understand why someone would say that to someone else
“@Tyra is the most annoying thing I’ve ever watched” followed by 3 gun emojis. http://imgur.com/kexLBkK
People do say this shit all of the time. It is an internet meme, but one that sucks no matter who dishes it out.
Season 2 was one of my favorite seasons to watch. And i was disappointed at the end when Tyra won. I was rooting for Raven. Tyra was phony and disingenuous and not funny. The only thing she slayed at was her runway looks and her runway game. All these years later and it seems Raven was the better choice. She is fierce and has a very large and loyal fanbase.
Thrilled to see a drag race post on here! Boo that it’s on the completely underwhelming Tyra Sanchez. I still don’t get how she won. I guess even momma ru makes mistakes. Raven was robbed of her crown on S2. That’s all I got.
So thrilled too!
Twitter can be cruel at times. Mean disturbing and disgusting people on there. Sometimes you have to go off character and put people in their place.
Or you can just stop wasting your time on Twitter.
Well the article is missing a bit of context, that while it in no way makes it ok, it does make it seem less out of the blue. Tyra intially received from a hater that said “@Tyra is the most annoying thing I’ve ever watched” with gun emojis which roughly translates on twitter to “This is so annoying that I want to blow my brains out”. To that, Tyra respond “Girl Kill Yourself”. Still tactless, but not out of the blue.
Just nitpicking but Tyra Sanchez won season 2 of rpdr. All stars is only for contestants who did not win.
Considering how many LGBT (especially trans) people kill themselves every year, that’s beyond tacky. Don’t be telling anyone to kill themselves. I don’t care if it’s a meme. You’re in the community; know better.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/revoke-tyra-sanchezs-crown-title