Fenton Bailey, whose company World of Wonder produces RuPaul’s Drag Race, wants to take the LGBTQ-themed show global.
Speaking with iNews, Bailey talked about about the conservative opposition to transgender radicalism and drag shows for children, likening them to school bullies aiming to pick on the weak.
“In some ways, I think it’s very simple,” he told the outlet. “It’s like bullies at school, picking on who they think is the weak target. It’s great to create a climate of fear — pointing out what doesn’t seem normal to distract from the fundamental complexities that our political leaders are unable to deal with. It’s a distraction policy.”
“Historically, there’s always been people who have tried to turn the clock back. That always causes a lot of pain and suffering but it will never succeed. We have to fight and we are fighting,” he added.
Bailey also had no appreciation for author J.K. Rowling, who he referred to as the “Harry Potter lady,” and said opposition to drag and transgenderism in both the United States and Britain stems from people refusing to “face a more complicated world.”
“I think the anti-trans debate in the UK, and the anti-drag movement in the US, they’re all of a piece — and they are simply about the refusal to face a more complicated world,” he said. “The idea of a binary, of male and female gender roles, has been the norm for a long time, and we’re really moving past that.”
Randy Barbado, Fenton Baily, Morgan McMichaels and Tom Cambell attend the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Viewing Party during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival at The Claim Jumper on January 25, 2018 in Park City, Utah. (George Pimentel/Getty Images)
Bailey asserted that “nothing” has been taken away from ordinary folk by this rapid change of culture, completely oblivious to the fact that qualified female athletes are being sabotaged transgenders and then being vilified if they dare to speak out about it.
Bailey said he hopes to take the show globally to places like China, Russia, and even Uganda.
“Sometimes people say, ‘Isn’t there too much Drag Race?’ I say no, because even though drag has always existed there are still countries where it is oppressed or forbidden. And so to me, what’s worth getting out of bed for, is to figure out how to make Drag Race China, or Drag Race Russia, or Drag Race Iran, because — although not didactically a political show — the message of Drag Race, of individuality and self-invention, of live-and-let-live, is what we need,” he said.
“It may seem ridiculous to say it: how long will it take to get Drag Race Uganda? But I believe it will happen. It may take a long time. It took about five or six years to get a UK version up and running. I couldn’t be happier that it’s on the BBC. But it’s a long game,” he added.
Morgan McMichaels and Fenton Bailey attend RuPaul’s Drag Race Con UK presented by World Of Wonder at Olympia London on January 19, 2020 in London, England. (Dave Benett/Getty Images for World Of Wonder Productions)
Bailey said his drive to bring drag to a global audience stems from his being bullied at school.
“I was horribly bullied at boarding school,” he said.
“You would have thought that the sensible thing to do faced with that would be to conform,” he added. “And I just didn’t. It wasn’t defiance. It was just who I was. So I wasn’t going to change, because deep down I liked who I was. I’ve always loved camp things. I didn’t completely understand why I was ostracised, but I wasn’t going to change to win acceptance.”
As Breitbart News reported last month, the producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race publicly announced their opposition to laws banning children from watching drag shows.
“The notion that drag queens are groomers is false. Ultimately, it’s an attempt to turn the clock back to some imaginary time when drag queens did not exist, which is never, and therefore render invisible certain people,” Bailey told Variety. “By trying to do that, it will fail because any attempt to turn the clock back has always failed and can only fail.”