Jasmine Masters Stands Up for Female Drag Performers and Shades RuPaul In Her Latest Vid

By now, we know that Jasmine Masters has something to say. But we didn’t know the tea would be this hot.

In a new video out this week on her YouTube channel, Masters weighed in on a hot topic among the Drag Race fandom ever since RuPaul’s comments that she would basically only allow cisgender men to be on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The controversy first erupted in March when, while RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 was airing, RuPaul told The Guardian that he would “probably not” allow physically transitioning queens to compete.

“You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body,” RuPaul told the Guardian. “It takes on a different thing; it changes the whole concept of what we’re doing. We’ve had some girls who’ve had some injections in the face and maybe a little bit in the butt here and there, but they haven’t transitioned.”

The television host’s comments spurred a huge online response, including the hashtag #MyDragIsValid in which people ranging from trans queens to bio queens and more shared pictures of themselves and stories of their art.

Masters herself spoke about having a variety of people at the table when it comes to drag.

“Drag kings, drag queens, transsexuals, bio queens,” Masters starts. “I grew up in a time where I performed with [transgender people], drag queens, now what … bio queens, bio men.” (Note: though Masters is defending trans queens, she does say “transgenders” in the video as opposed to trans people.)

She continued, “There was just a variety. Strippers, male strippers, female strippers. If you was gay, or you accepted us and you were int he club, you had some talent, you were able to get on the stage. It was more like a variety show. I don’t know what the problem is with everybody having a problem with bio queens being on the show.”

Masters called people complaining about female drag performers “dumb shit.” Masters also ended up making an economic argument for including everyone in the show. A variety of acts will bring in a variety of clientele and help everyone make more money (or, as Masters might say, more jush.) A rising tide lifts all acts, so to say.

“If we’re complaining against people that want to be on our side and work with us, whether it’s helping us grow as a community or work on our show, we can’t complain,” Master says. “Just shut the fuck up, let us all have fucking fun.”

Masters doesn’t call out RuPaul by name, but it’s hard to imagine that the Ru and his limited view of drag wasn’t at least on her mind as she pressed record.