Sasha Colby (‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ winner): ‘All we’re asking… as drag queens, as trans people, is just to be given the humanity of being ourselves’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“It was such a personal thing to accomplish in my career” reveals “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 15 winner Sasha Colby about being crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar earlier this year. For our recent webchat she adds, “The impact that has made, the opportunities I get to have, it just felt like a dream come true.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
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From its humble beginnings in 2008 as a low-budget reality competition show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has emerged as a successful and influential pop culture sensation, loudly and proudly celebrating drag culture for a worldwide audience. Over 16 episodes of Season 15 for the series, host RuPaul Charles put 16 queens through their paces, competing for $200,000 “doolahs” (the largest cash prize in the show’s history), to ultimately crown America’s Next Drag Superstar.
By the season finale, only four queens remained with a chance to snatch the coveted crown, with Sasha Colby triumphing over runner-up Anetra, and Luxx Noir London and Mistress Isabelle Brooks, as she proved to Mama Ru that she had the right mix of “charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent” to ultimately “shantay you stay.” Colby is not only the second openly transgender contestant to win the main show, but is also the first ever Native Hawaiian contestant on the show to date. “To have a like a whole island nation be so proud of me, it really touches my heart,” the drag icon declares proudly. “It is very special to be the first Native Hawaiian ever to compete and then win. It’s a testament to how many amazing Native Hawaiian performers I grew up with, many trans performers I grew up with.”
SEE‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ winners list: Every season, plus ‘All Stars’
Over recent years, “Drag Race” has become truly global, with (at last count) 15 international spin-offs of the show, numerous specials and short format series. The MTV “mother ship” itself has also become an Emmy powerhouse, winning Best Competition Program for four consecutive years (2018-2021), and host RuPaul winning Best Reality Host a record seven consecutive times, becoming the most-awarded person of color in Emmy history. Perhaps most importantly of all, the world of “Drag Race” has emerged as an essential platform for the LGBTQ community, particularly over the last few years amid a perilous socio-political climate, elevating the art of drag from an underground scene to mainstream culture.
“We’re hitting a nerve with so many families. I’m at meet and greets with families, like three generations,” she explains. “It’s a dream, like what other reality competition show could do that? I think that’s so special. This special thing about ‘Drag Race’ is, it’s run by, the whole cast, is queer. We’re not just like one character in an ensemble that is carrying the whole weight of the queer community. It is all the layers of us, all this trauma. And yet straight cis people can relate to our trauma, because at the end of the day, it’s a human experience that we’re all happy. And if we just sit back and think, that’s all we’re asking, as people, as drag queens, as trans people, is just to be given the humanity of being ourselves.”
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