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RuPaul’s Drag Race will have two trans competitors & a cis straight queen for first time

Season 14 Cast of "RuPaul's Drag Race"
Season 14 Cast of "RuPaul's Drag Race" Photo: Screenshot/World of Wonder

Season 14 of the iconic competition series RuPaul’s Drag Race will premiere in one month, and the cast of queens competing for the show has been revealed. Unsurprisingly, the show is out to break some norms, even within their own universe.

After the show had its first trans male contestant, the upcoming season will feature two out trans competitors for the first time. Additionally for the first time, a heterosexual, cisgender man will be behind one of the queens in the cast as well.

Related: Drag has gone mainstream. Here’s how it continues to change the world for the better.

Kerri Colby and Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté, both of whom are trans women originating from Los Angeles, are among the 14 queens that are vying for Drag Race‘s $100,000 prize and priceless prize title as America’s Next Drag Superstar. Maddy Morphosis is the straight cis man also among them.

Alyssa Hunter, Angeria Paris VanMicheals, Bosco, Daya Betty, Deja Skye, Jasmine Kennedie, Jorgeous, June Jambalaya, Lady Camden, Orion Story, and Willow Pill are the other competitors in the upcoming season.

Kerri, earning her last name from the beauty queen and drag legend Sasha Colby, has had “to make it on her own at the age of 15,” according to Entertainment Weekly, who talked with her and the rest of the cast ahead of its reveal yesterday.

“I couldn’t say I would’ve found myself as the woman I am today without drag. It’s quite literally my oxygen, my life supply, everything I’ve ever been through,” she told EW. “I didn’t like who I was, I didn’t feel comfortable with who I was, but when I’d put my Kerri on, I’d feel so much more comfortable dealing with the world, so much stronger, like a person who wasn’t ridiculed or excluded.”

Describing her personality now, Kerri laughed and said, “I’m weird as hell. If it’s kind of ugly, it’s kind of stupid, it’s kind of scary, people won’t take roles like that, but I’m like, ‘give it to me, I don’t mind!’ I went through so much of never feeling pretty that there’s nothing I won’t do. As long as you come back and hit that runway, gorgeous like you know how to be, that’s winning.”

Kornbread is known for incorporating cooking utensils into her show, and once collected $4,000 in one night doing so. “I thank the wok,” she said.

She also has already gained TV and film credits and is known for collaborating with out, award-winning entertainer Brandon Rogers. She is close to Drag Race Season 12 contestant Heidi N Closet.

Nothing scares her — except “getting in my own way,” she told EW.

Maddy is a comedy performing queen originating from Fayetteville, Arkansas, that Drag Race describes as someone whose “quirky performances set her apart from the pack.”

While he is making history as the first contestant to identify as cisgender and straight, Maddy recognizes how “privileged” he is and feels grateful to express himself as he wants, as he applies many of the “aspects” of drag outside of his performances.

“As far as the gender stuff, I learned that all the things related to gender are arbitrary. I identify as a cisgender straight man, but I’m gender non-conforming in my presentation,” he told EW.

Of course, he is prepared for the detractors and negative comments people may have about his identity, which he has certainly already experienced — from other cis, straight people. “It sucks when people who don’t know you have the biggest opinions about you,” he said, “but, let’s show ’em, baby!”

Maddy describes his style as “general stupidity” that is “so outlandish.”

Maddy is the only cisgender straight contestant known in the franchise’s history. Amongst spin-offs and international adaptations, Drag Race UK has had a cisgender woman compete — Victoria Scone from series three, who was also a lesbian. She was disqualified three episodes in.

Among other firsts in this season’s cast, Orion Story will be the first contestant to represent the state of Michigan. Another contestant, Lady Camden, might be the first cast member of the original Drag Race franchise to have performed in front of members of the British royal family prior to their casting.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 premieres with two all-new episodes on January 9, 2022 at 8:00 pm EST, airing on VH1 with Untucked immediately following.

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