TransTainment for May 4, 2020
Connor as Babykins LaRoux.
Secret Celebrity Drag Race, is yet another spin off of the RuPaul’s Drag Race money machine. In this show celebrities, mostly males but sometimes females, are transformed into dragtastic queens whose own mothers wouldn’t recognize them. On the season premier in April the celebrity contestants were Younger actor Nico Tortorella, stand-up comedian Jermaine Fowler, and Riverdale star Jordan Connor. (Sweet Pea on Riverdale.) Connor took the $30,000 prize which was donated to his favorite charity Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
This past week the show transformed three women into drag queens. The star turn was taken by Vanessa Williams who became a drag Dolly Parton and performed in a version of Twerking 5 to 9. For more photos and more info on the show visit Yahoo Entertainment for Connor’s turn and Ms. Williams’ Dolly Parton.
Shangela is one of the most popular drag queens to come out of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She is also an actor and producer named D.J. Pierce, Shangela has a new show featuring her, Bob the Drag Queen, and Eureka O’Hara, called We’re Here, on HBO. Out.com got an interview with the star.
Look for these queens in your town.
Billy Porter, sad that the annual Met Gala has been postponed due to the epidemic, kickstarted the Met Gala Challenge, and it’s taking over Instagram. Even Mindy Kaling has entered. The Gal was supposed to happen today (May 4) so it’s fitting that we report on some of the home made costumes today. The idea is for people to use whatever they have around their place to recreate famous Met Gala costumes from the past. The Net Gala is famous for the sometimes bizarre costumes that celebs show up in. From etherial beauty to weird fabulousity it’s all been seen on the red carpet. Last year Billy Porter was carried in on a velvet-draped litter by six bare chested men. When he descended to the pink carpet he spread his golden wings and posed like the goddess Isis. Check out entries on Yahoo.
Pabllo Vittar
Pabllo Vittar is a Brazilian drag performer who has been steadily rising in the international charts. Her campy, energetic songs are filling the airwaves and digital streams worldwide. She open collaborates with international pop stars and has performed at the United Nations headquarters. The 25-year-old is one of Brazil’s biggest exports, having racked up half a billion Spotify streams, a billion YouTube views and more than twice as many Instagram followers as drag icon RuPaul. In March, Vittar released her third album, 111, featuring collaborations with stars including Mexican singer Thalia and English popstar Charli XCX. The album features songs in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Vittar is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights in her country, using her star platform to speak out about the oppression that grew worse after the election of President Bolsonaro. Learn more about her in an interview with Thomson Reuters Trust.
Eve Lindley
Dispatches From Elsewhere, a creation of Jason Segel, just had its finale on AMC. The show was an odd, quirky experience that kept viewers guessing about what exactly was going on. Was it all a game? Was it real? Who was behind it all and what did it mean? In the end it meant a lot personally to Jason Segel, and we’re not going to spoil it for you if you if you haven’t seen it yet. What makes us mention it in TransTainment is the casting of Eve Lindley as the transgender character Simone. The character is transgender and so is the actress. In the show Simone is presented as a real person. She is depicted as having chosen to live her truth but is still wary of how she is accepted by society. Maybe she’s a bit touchy when people look at her on the street, feeling that they are looking because she is trans and not because she is an attractive woman. The male lead, Peter, played by Segel, becomes her friend and then (spoiler!) in one episode dramatically admits his love for her. Congratulations and thanks to Jason Segel for casting Eve Lindley and presenting her character as a real human being. Dispatches From Elsewhere is available on demand from AMC.
Hannah, Baby Millie, and Jake.
Hannah and Jake Graf are a transgender couple from the U.K. In 2019 they announced the to world that they had engaged a surrogate to carry their child and were expecting. Now the baby has arrived, a girl named Millie, and the couple have revealed that they have turned their child’s birth story into a documentary which will air on Britain’s Channel 4 in June. For more on the story visit the Microsoft news website.
Blue Chapman
One of the newest transgender characters on American broadcast television is played by a trans boy named Blue Chapman. His character is one of the five kids on the NBC show Council of Dads. The show premiered on March 24 with Chapman in the role of JJ Perry, a seven-year-old trans boy who loves his dog and his family. His father is fighting cancer and is worried about what will happen to the children if he dies. He and his wife pick a group of men to provide male role models and help look out for the family. Congratulations to the producers for casting a trans boy in the trans role.
See you next month with more news from the world of transgender entertainment!
Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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