RuPaul Charles, the public figure behind the hit TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, responds to his transgender drag queen controversy in AJ and the Queen, his Netflix series. No stranger to such scandals, the public figure and gay-rights icon found himself the target of backlash from the LGBTQ+ community in March 2018 following the publication of a profile on him published by the Guardian. The subsequent outcry prompted an apologetic response from RuPaul over social media, admitting he was in the wrong. He has responded once again to the scandal: this time, in season 1 of AJ and the Queen.
RuPaul has been accused of transphobic behavior in the past, most obviously his "she-mail" pun he used in seasons 1-6 of RuPaul's Drag Race. The reason for the 2018 controversy? RuPaul's comments on whether or not a transgender woman can be labeled a drag queen. Although his comments were clearly carefully-chosen, his statements were deemed transphobic by many, especially because he stated he (probably) would not let a post-op transgender queen compete on the show.
AJ and the Queen acknowledges the scandal in season 1, episode 2, "Pittsburg." The Netflix Original series is a comedy-drama, and season 1 comprises 10 episodes. In the trailer and the premiere of the series, AJ is presumed to be a boy; however, at the end of the first episode, RuPaul's character Robert discovered that AJ is actually female. In the second episode, Robert repeatedly tried to force a conversation with AJ about her dressing in "little boy drag," wanting her clarify how she identifies. The conversations did not go over well, and Robert eventually realized he was wrong for making assumptions.
Robert's comments to AJ parallels RuPaul's real-life apology over Twitter. Throughout the episode, Robert made numerous affirming statements about gender identity and being transgender; however, the problem is that he wrongly assumed that because AJ says she "[doesn't] want to be a girl," she must therefore be a transgender boy. She isn't. After she corrects him, Robert admited his error, saying "I made my whole life about not letting people put me in a box, and I go and put you into one." This echoes his Twitter apology, in which he states "The trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement. You are my teachers."
RuPaul has featured trans contestants before on his series RuPaul's Drag Race; however, these women were all pre-op, and in many cases, did not disclose their gender identity until part-way through their season or after filming. Former Drag Race queens like Gia Gunn, Jiggly Caliente, and Stacy Layne Matthews came out as transgender after filming their season. Peppermint, who competed in season 4, is a notable exception because she was openly transgender throughout her season. In the Guardian profile, RuPaul references Peppermint, but clarifies that she was accepted onto the show because she "hadn't really transitioned [yet]." For many trans allies, this statement was unacceptable.
In both the AJ and the Queen episode and the Twitter apology, RuPaul makes a powerful statement affirming the right of an individual to choose their own identity. By telling trans queens that they are somehow cheating if they are post-op, RuPaul was dictating who is allowed to identify as what. His character's response to AJ in AJ and the Queen is a sly wink to the knowing audience that RuPaul has learned his lesson: he won't be putting drag queens in a box any longer.