TransTainment!

Kim Petras

Kim Petras is a star. The German singer-songwriter has gotten 85 million music streams on the internet for her songs Turn Off The Light and Heart To Break. The catchy electro pop sound is easy to dance to and Petras is an accomplished performer who uses her beauty to promote her brand. She is also an advocate for trans people and she talks about music, being transgender, and more, in an interview with The Georgia Voice. Petras is currently appearing throughout the U.S. on her Clarity Tour.

VH1 has announced an expansion of its Emmy-winning reality competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race — RuPaul’s Celebrity Drag Race — which will premiere in 2020. Each episode of the Celebrity Drag Race will feature three celebrities who will transform into fierce drag queens with the help of Drag Race stars Alyssa Edwards, Trixie Mattel and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Asia O’Hara, Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi, Monet X Change, Monique Heart, Nina West and Trinity the Tuck. Depending on which celebs are picked and how willing they are to commit to the role the show could be interesting. Get more about the show from The Hollywood Reporter.

Shangela

Speaking of RuPaul’s Drag Race, former contestant and star of A Star Is Born, Shangela,  guest stars on an episode of the Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene. The spin off, which will run mid-season on The CW, follows the lives and loves of four iconic Archie Comics characters — fashion legend-to-be Katy Keene (Lucy Hale), singer/songwriter Josie McCoy (Ashleigh Murray), performer Jorge Lopez/Ginger (Jonny Beauchamp), and “It Girl” Pepper Smith (Julia Chan) — as they chase their twenty-something dreams in New York City–together. The Jorge character keeps not getting cast for roles on Broadway because the directors don’t find him masculine enough for male roles. He decides to go with his feminine traits and becomes Ginger. Shangela will play a “ruthless pageant queen.” No word on whether she will help or hinder Ginger’s dreams. Learn more about Shangela from Yahoo News.

Drag has injected itself into many areas of our culture. (Word has it that a theater in Brooklyn will be producing a version of A Christmas Carol with a drag queen playing The Ghost of Christmas Past. More on that if we find out who is cast.) Last week drag showed up in one of the weirdest spots ever, the impeachment hearings going on in Washington. Pissi Myles, a drag performer from Asbury Park, New Jersey was sent to the hearings to live stream the proceedings and offer snappy drag queen comments. Learn more from NBC News.

The 47th Daytime Emmy® Awards will take place at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California in three separate shows on Friday, June 12th, Saturday, June 13th and Sunday, June 14th. Why do we care? The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced a change in the category names that make way for non-binary actors. For example, Younger Actor and Younger Actress in a Drama Series categories, respectively, have been combined into a singular non-gendered Younger Performer in a Drama Series. “Actress” will no longer be used in favor of “actor” which is recognized as a non-gendered word. Get more info from The Los Angeles Blade.

Wendy Carlos in 1979.

The grandmother of synth based music is profiled on NewNowNext. Wendy Carlos began making electronic music in the 1970s. She did the musical scores for 1971’s A Clockwork Orange and 1980’s The Shining as well as several other notable projects. Carlos transitioned in secret and came out publicly as a trans woman in 1979.

If you’ve been reading your TWIT column every week you know Danica Roem won reelection to her seat in the Virginia state legislature. What you may not know is that before Roem went into politics she was the vocalist for a “trash metal” band called Cab Ride Home. The band’s website still lists Danica as the vocalist and their guiding principle is “partying.” We wonder how working in the legislature is cutting into the partying. A video of the band recorded at a Long Island bar in 2009 features a pre-transition Roem, and bad audio coupled with sloppy camera work and bad lighting.

Geena Rocero

It’s not all play for Playmate Geena Rocero, who became Playboy’s second transgender Playmate in August of this year. She has joined forces with the publication to spotlight five prominent trans people effecting change for LGBTQ people nationwide. Rocero’s choices include activist and commentator Ashlee Marie Preston, groundbreaking actress Candis Cayne, writer and activist Tiq Milan, musician Nomi Ruiz, and American Civil Liberties Union legal counsel Chase Strangio.

Drag Kids is a documentary film about four drag performers who are under the age of 12. It had its U.S. premiere at New York’s LGBTQ film festival NewFest last month. Take a look at the film’s trailer below and learn more in The Huffington Post.

Christian Siriano, Halloween 2019.

Christian Siriano, fashion designer and winner of the 4th season of Project Runway let his imagination run away with him this past Halloween. We don’t have a story about this, just this photo of Siriano’s fabulous Halloween costume. (Click on it for a larger view.)

Pose star Mj Rodriquez is now the face (and body) of an Olay Body campaign. It was announced last week that Rodriquez is the brand’s ambassador for their “14 Day Skin Transformation” campaign. It is Olay’s first partnership with a trans, Latinx woman. Congratulation to Ms. Rodrequiz. Learn more from the BET network website.

Speaking of Pose; Indya Moore, the transgender actress who plays Angel Evangelista in Ryan Murphy‘s ballroom drama will appear in the upcoming horror flick Escape Room 2, a film about young people who have to try and flee from a room filled with deadly traps. Thanks to Alyssa Washington for the story tip. Learn more from LGBTQ Nation.

Sophie White is a trans actress who is booking supporting roles on television shows such as Chicago Med. Her career in television however goes back decades to when she was producing content and working behind the camera as a male. She spent years in the closet trying to work up the courage to come out both personally and in the industry. Learn more about White and her journey from Pride Source.

That’s all the TransTainment we have for November! TransTainment will be back on December with more news about transgender people in showbiz and the arts. Happy Thanksgiving!

Like to make a comment? Login here and use the comment area below.

Tags: actress, featured, Musician, Transgender

Category: Media, Music, Transgender Fun & Entertainment