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In the latest developments in the heated debate around use of the word ‘t*****’, Bianca Del Rio, the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, has launched into a transphobic tirade against fellow competitor Carmen Carrera on stage.
In a video shared on Facebook, the outspoken Bianca, who only recently won her crown on 19 May, responded to the recent debate about the use of terms such as ‘t*****’ on Drag Race by saying, ‘I think Carmen Carrera should stick what’s left of her dick and shove it in her mouth.’
Carmen Carrera posted on Facebook that she wouldn’t rise to her ‘haters’.
https://www.facebook.com/carmencarrerafans/posts/706283589418117
Earlier this month LOGO TV declared that it would not support transphobic language, and re-edited recent shows to remove references to ‘she-male’/’she-mail’. RuPaul, however, has defended his use of the word ‘t*****’.
He added to his earlier comments with the following tweet to clarify his position:
I’ve been a “tranny” for 32 years. The word “tranny” has never just meant transsexual. #TransvestiteHerstoryLesson
— RuPaul (@RuPaul) May 24, 2014
Meanwhile, others have waded into the debate, too, with US venue T*****shack rebranding itself as T-Shack and Australian trans activist Indiana Kelly Edwards calling for a group of drag queens to drop the name ‘T***** Bingo’ for their event.
San Francisco drag queen Heklina, who runs T*****shack US, said on Facebook: ‘When I started the club (waaaaaay back in 1996) the word “t*****” did not have the charged weight to it that it has today.
‘Increasingly, and in the past year especially, it’s become clear to me the meaning the word t***** has taken on.
‘I’ve tried to avoid the issue because I’ve spent almost 20 years branding and promoting my club. But more and more, I am asked on the street, in interviews, and online about my thoughts on the word, and the name of my club.
‘Time for a rebrand.’
Performance artist Justin Vivian Bond posted ‘A Missive to My Community’ in response to the T*****shack name change on Facebook. In response to the events she has begun calling the ‘t***** troubles’, she defends the right of the community to use the word:
The UK LGBT night T*****shack at Madame JoJo’s has, however, pledged to keep its name.
