RuPaul

He doesn’t show enough of himself on the show. He should do more interviews

I was just watching this earlier today. I could listen to him talk all day, a wise man!

2 divas

President and VP

His podcast, What's The Tea, reveals he is losing or has a terrible memory; he blames the drugs.

High School drop out who compensates for his lack of education by parroting self-help cliches. Some people interpret this as “wisdom.”

r6 = hater

He lives a quiet life on a farm with his husband.

He's a closeted crossdresser like Travolta and Bruce Jenner

You mean RuPaul isn’t a woman? Oh dear god in heaven!

He likes to go to Vegas and shop!

Except for the nasty remark he made on some awards show to an elderly Milton Berle (and who knows what prompted that), he's been pretty classy. I've respected his ability to remain in the public limelight for 25 years.

Sweet gal. I’ve forgiven him for forcing Phi Phi O’Hara on us.

I vaguely remember the Milton Berle thing and I believe it was just a clash from two different worlds. I think they misunderstood each other but I’ll have to go back and watch it.

Ru seems like a fun to hang out with. I want him to tell stories of back in the day.

I just read this NYT article about RuPaul - recommend it.

I cannot stand to look at RuPaul OUT OF DRAG.

He thinks he is a life coach of some sort but I've never seen any evidence. All that blah blah on Drag Race is mostly shtick, IMO.

Berle grabbed RuPaul's ass before going out on stage so they were already angry with each other. I'm sure he thought he was just joking but it was rude and he deserved a smackdown for it.

Berle was a cunt to Ru before the show, making fun of him. I loved Ru’s delivery and wit, it stunned the old mule.

He's fine IF you go along with everything he says and wants. But he's also brittle and carries grudges permanently. The sense is he's lost himself in his mystique - in terms of relationships with friends and colleagues - and expects to be treated like an elevated poobah full of wisdom. At the same time he's grounded and sensible, although he tries very hard to maintain the idea that he's "just folk" because he lived a wild young life. He's anything but flexible, wild and trend-setting now.

One good example is what's happened with Mathu Andersen. Terrible. Unforgivable.

With all that, I enjoy RuPaul as an audience member and respect what he's done for.... well, drag. I just wouldn't care to have to deal with the "I'm just a humble person but you'd better not forget I'm a legend and a guru." The comparison to Oprah is apt.

He looks like a woman when not in drag....?

I get the sense that, with his hardened belief in a bootstraps philosophy, that if he weren't gay and black then he would be a Republican. Luckily, his gayness and blackness keep him from completely falling into an Ayn Randian worldview.

This is kind of great, they're tossing insults back and forth like fire. Few people are as quick as either of them.

So what exactly happened with Mathu r20 ? I know it was a parting of the ways and Raven did his makeup last season ( a lot of the fan base were hyper critical...I was fine with it)

I suspect it's very similar to the Lucian Piane situation. They will not badmouth him publicly but he will never work on Drag Race again.

I hope Lucian got the help he needed. What a sad situation. But is it really the same as Mathu? Lucian's was a mental health issue, whereas Mathu's is a physical health issue.

I obviously have no idea R26, just the way Raven said that she didn't know and didn't wanna ask about what happened to him suggests that this is more than a chronic illness...

Great post R20. RuPaul rides his bike around town, doesn't go to the best parties and does practice a lot of new age and spiritual ways of living. He is quite detached from friends and colleagues. He has employees and sycophants, a few trusted old friends who are very loyal. That's fine. He's made them very comfortable. The imperious forward staring RuPaul on the main stage is not all satire. Nor is the dispenser of "wisdom" and light.

He is not the mother of drag any more than Oprah is mother of us all. People are very careful of how they speak about RuPaul and what they ask of him. His success is admirable but he is not counterculture at all and he wouldn't know a previous drag race contestant if he ran over them with his old Volvo.

Like Oprah, Ru LOVES money.

[quote]His success is admirable but he is not counterculture at all and he wouldn't know a previous drag race contestant if he ran over them with his old Volvo.

This is exemplified by the video of him walking around the last Drag Con, and he sees a contestant and goes, "Oh, look thats—that's—" He can't remember the name. Then one of his handlers says, "Nina," and he says, "Yes, Nina Bonina Brown!" Mind you, this is while Season 9 is in the middle of airing. Pretty funny, in its own way.

He's married to some Aussie and they live on some huge ranch in Idaho or Wyoming when he isn't doing the show. Very random.

No, Ru lives in L.A and New York. That marriage is a bit of a mystery. Real, because he has mentioned the guy for years now, but he sure the fuck spends little time with his "husband." RuPaul is a homebody but his bed is not in Wyoming. Oprah sleeps more often with Stedman.

Paparazzi video of him on his day off

I adore Ru.

Having watched much of him over the years, especially a lot of the interviews and podcasts in the last decade, he is an intelligent guy.

Can he be a bit preachy with his self-help thing? Sure. But I don't think he means any harm with it, and there are some real lessons in there. I'm glad he's giving them out to what is now a very young fanbase for the show.

Is he probably a tough business man who loves the money? I don't doubt it. And considering how cut-throat show business is, esp. if you're openly gay doing it in drag, I don't blame him for being tough as nails about it.

As for some of the Drag Race contestants, I think some of them have a real chip on their shoulder about the whole thing, and forget that it really is all "just business". Like some on the show have said, so many of them think they're going to become Ru's bestie and everything is going to be puppies and rainbows. It's show business. It's a game show. It's not "RuPaul's Best Friend Race". I think that can be confusing for a lot of queens, and the fans, in contrast to Ru's overall message and delivery of his product. But again, I don't mind it because I see it and enjoy it for what it is. At least he's trying to put out something with a positive message.

As for his actual daily life and personality, he has never been shy about how much of an actual introvert he is, and I notice it in some interviews, esp. in group settings...and that his daily routine is very structured. Does he probably have a bit of a protective/egotistical bubble around him? Probably, but who wouldn't in his case.

As for his politics, I don't know if he'd be a Republican. He hasn't been shy, at all, about his politics in the last few years, esp. now calling out this administration...and his need to retreat during the Bush years. So, I could be wrong, but I get the impression he's over all more liberal minded politically...but he's also not been shy about his non-PC attitude towards a lot of things, in a sort of more libertarian/independent kind of way culturally.

He sounds like he was an awful young man: overly serious, alienated, humorless.

When you're that nelly you better get a sense of humor. Early.

Even today his laugh sounds artificial, "corporate".

I started off in Gender Fuu-cch drag u ars ago honey.

I’m named after the base of the gumbo. The Ru.

I speak in a Valley Girl Accent because the Queens in NYC made fun of my Luh-si-anna drawl child.

He’s taken more dick than all of us in this thread put together.

I guess I have to ask....AIDS???

R37 He has been in an open relationship with a rancher since the late 80’s early 90’s so here’s hoping he didn’t catch a dose in a San Francisco dark room.

There’s something to be said for manogamy I think.

There's something to be said about monogamy too, r38, and mahogany.

Monogamy in a mahogany bed? Jonathan and Jennifer Hart couldn’t do it better!

It was r38. I really am a retard.

Gumbo and a Louisiana drawl, R36? He was born and raised in San Diego then moved to Atlanta where attended Northside High School of Performing Arts.

All Oprah knows how to talk about is "spirits on a higher plain" or some shit. She refuses to live on planet Earth.

Bump

Ru is a genuinely good person.