Wendy Warhol is a Montreal based female drag queen. She emphasizes that all drag is valid, and describes drag artists as being clowns for adults!
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Interview with Wendy Warhol, April 13, 2020.
To cite this particular interview, please use the following:
Baxter, Destiny. 2020. Interview with Wendy Warhol. Sociology of Drag, SIUE, April 28. Available URL (https://ezratemko.com/drag/wendy-warhol/).
Interviewer: Hello. How are you doing today?
Wendy Warhol: I’m good and you?
Interviewer: I’m good, thank you. Before I begin –
Wendy Warhol: I don’t understand what’s going on, I’m supposed to be able to receive calls [inaudible] provider. I feel bad, but I think I can talk to you now.
Interviewer: Yeah, I’m sorry about that, that actually happened with somebody else too. So, I’m not sure if it’s something on my end or the other person’s end. Before I begin, did you get that participation form that I sent you?
Wendy Warhol: Yeah, I did.
Interviewer: Did you have any questions or anything before I begin?
Wendy Warhol: No
Interviewer: Okay so my first question is, when did you first hear about drag?
Wendy Warhol: Oh well, the first time I heard about drag was, like, when I was really young, because here in Montreal we have – we have one famous drag queen who has been around for over 30 years. So, when I was still a child, I used to know what drag was because of her. She, obviously when I was younger, I couldn’t go to bars, but she would turn up in the newspapers, and I would read that, and it’d just be funny because it was containing all the stories behind the drag scene. So yeah, I was about- I would say I was about 10 or 12 years old at that time.
Interviewer: Yeah. Okay, and what was your initial reaction to it? Do you remember?
Wendy Warhol: I thought she was funny. I could guess because she’s the kind of drag that is like a clown, so, yeah, the funny, the stories that she was like writing were really funny so I just thought it was funny and entertaining.
Interviewer: And then when did you start performing as a drag artist?
Wendy Warhol: I started doing drag even before starting to perform, I was more like a Club Kid at my beginning. It started when I was, I think it was about four or five years ago. I used to have a blog. And my blog was all about Montreal, like what to do in Montreal, and there is a festival we have each year called the Fringe Festival. And every year they launch their festival with what they called Fringe For All and it’s a big evening where all the artists are invited. So, show the audience one minute of their act, or they have one minute to sell the idea of doing their show. And I saw a drag house called the House of Laureen I thought they were kind of entertaining and different from what the other drag – what the other drag was about in Montreal. Sorry I haven’t talked in English for a few weeks, kind of hard to right now.
Interviewer: You’re totally fine.
Wendy Warhol: Thank you, so I wrote an article on my blog about, not just about them but like more “The Five Shows You Must See at the Fringe Festival” and when they saw my article, they were like, “Oh, we would like to invite you for a premiere and if you would like, we would love to transform you into a drag queen.” And back then I didn’t know that woman could do – could be drag queens. So, I was kind of excited about that. “Like, oh my god, I could be a drag queen that sounds cool” because at that time I used to hang out in the Village, the gay district of Montreal when I was like quite young about like 18 or 19 or 20 years old, but I’m older now, I’m 42. So, I was like 38 at that time, and there was a gap of my life that I didn’t go to the Village at all. So, I didn’t realize – House of Laureen is more, is for more outside of the village, but it taught – kind of taught me that drag can be different than what, what, mainstream drag is. I’m not saying that it is always these mainstream drag, but there are more careers, that can be a little bit more mainstream. And so since I didn’t know I could be a drag queen and then they transformed me and I was like, oh my god, this is fantastic, this is cool. From there, I used to go to their shows every month because they have a monthly show – well they had this festival thing where they had a show like about every day for two weeks but then after that we had a monthly show so I would go to their show and dressed up as drag. But because I didn’t know any other females I think even though they would say it was correct and drag is, all drag is valid and all of that, personally, I still felt like an imposter because I didn’t – I didn’t know any other female drag queens. So, I started feeling like kind of maybe, maybe I shouldn’t do that, but I met a drag king at the same time so I figured well maybe I could try that. So, I started doing like, morphing my drag into drag king and you know, I was exploring. Do you want me to continue or is it too long of a story? Hello?
Interviewer: Hello I’m still listening .
Wendy Warhol: Huh?
Interviewer: Hello? I’m still listening – what was that?
Wendy Warhol: I’m saying like, do you want me to continue with that story? Or do you want me to stop?
Interviewer: Yeah, you can feel free to – yeah, continue with that story. Yes.
Wendy Warhol: Okay. So I started my drag king and then kept going with my club thing, club kid thing and it was maybe a few months later that one member of the House of Laureen told me there was a huge contest, a drag contest being held at Cabaret Mado in Montreal and it was open to every drag, even if you’re not performing in the Village there was actively all kinds of drag. Uma Gahd who was the drag queen who was telling me about that contest told me like they aren’t looking for drag kings because there are so many in Montreal. I was like, “Well I’m not ready for that, I’m not ready to go to a contest. I mean, I don’t feel comfortable going to a contest,” and then she pushed me for it, and it was like, “You know, she was like, you know, you have nothing to lose. Just go for fun at the, at the most, you know.” So that’s what I did, and I really thought it would be my first and last performance at Cabaret Mado. Cabaret Mado if you don’t know what that is, it’s like the most famous drag club in the whole province, and I was like “Okay I’ll go in and I’ll perform there and it will be like a one life experience thing” and back when I did my, you know, I first debated in the contest and then I went straight to the finale with my number, which stopped me by surprise because I was kind of a newbie and I didn’t expect that at all. And from there, well I didn’t win the contest obviously, but I started having lots of bookings from there. And I kept going for about a year as a drag king, but it didn’t take me long to realize that this is not what I wanted to do. At first it was more like you know, I wanted to be a drag queen but I felt like an imposter but then time flew and I met other female drag queens and finding out it can be a thing and I don’t have to feel like and imposter if I want to do that. So I talked to a few of my drag friends about you know, I’m like, I was like, “I don’t really feel comfortable doing that, I see all the possibilities that I can do as a queen that I can’t as a king,” and I don’t , personally I am, I feel like your, your art has to represent you in a certain way. And in the gender spectrum and all of that you’ll have that at all. It’s like, I didn’t – I didn’t feel I was, you know, expressing a part of myself as a king. And it really taught me because I started having some kind of big success here in Montreal as a king and I felt kind of trapped doing something that I wasn’t enjoying and I was really debating because I was like “I’m having success but then if I change, will people still love me? Will they still accept me and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” So I talked to some of my friends and my friends were like, “if it doesn’t make you happy, then don’t do it anymore. Just do whatever makes you happy blah, blah, blah.” So, this is then when I changed to the Wendy we know today. Yeah, well, I was saying I – it’s been two years and a half now that I’m performing as Wendy.
Interviewer: Where does your Wendy Warhol name come from?
Wendy Warhol: When I was a king, I was searching like a way to do my drag and I was in constant like exploration. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. But when I decided that I wanted to switch to be a queen that was like, pretty much really clear because I was like, I want to represent something very colorful but not bubbly but happy. But at the same time I want to be able to have this spectrum of opportunities for like expressing myself because I like to play with dark things as well so I was like, I was like, kind of wanting to represent what the pop culture is because the pop culture can be as bubbly as Ariana Grande and as dark as Meredith [inaudible] , and I’m a huge fan of Andy Warhol, so I just stayed with his name and I will also say that I am his daughter, it’s my story I say that well my dad, Andy Warhol met a drag queen at some point in time and this is how I was born.
Interviewer: Yeah, I like that. How did your family, your friends, and other loved ones receive you becoming a drag artist?
Wendy Warhol: Oh, well, it was mostly positive I would say. Well, yeah, it was positive but more like, at the beginning when I was a king, my father’s girlfriend thought I was trans. I was like no, this is just like me being a clown. But she didn’t really understand because she didn’t really know about that – that art form. It was like what are you looking for why do you put yourself into men’s clothes and blah, blah, blah. And then when I would do, become queen her and others didn’t really understand and then it was even more confusing because they were like “I thought only men could be a drag queen.” Then after a while, now that they understand, they fully support me I would say yeah – yeah my friends and family support me, they come to my show sometimes and now everything is virtual because of the COVID-19 all bars are closed. So, I do a weekly show and they watch my shows. I feel like it’s fun for me because I mean, I know it’s not the case for everybody. Some people have to do it behind closed doors, which is bad. As far as I’m concerned. all of my friends and family are okay with that. Yeah.
Interviewer: That’s awesome. Do you consider your drag to be political?
Wendy Warhol: Not really, except for the fact that I am a woman and a queen, I still have to fight and work twice harder to get twice as less the results. I would say like, I’m a big advocate for that, that all art is valid, you don’t have to like all kind of drag but all drag is valid it’s like I don’t like every – everything that is done in the drag scene, you know? And that’s okay, I mean, we all have tastes, you know, tastes are different, you know, it’s just like everything else in life. But saying that I don’t belong because I own a vagina. I mean, you know, drag is not just a man in a dress it’s an art form that expresses, it plays with gender but why can’t I play with my own gender? I mean, in my normal life, I’m really like, the basic bitch. You know, t-shirt things like I never wear makeup I’m just like I’m a tomboy in a sense but I’m not tomboy but you know what I mean? Like I’m not really girly but my drag is super girly. My – I pad, I cinch, I use like lots of makeup obviously huge wigs and I actually work more, I work harder on my drag than a male to female drag queen. So it’s really insulting, like I even wear a breastplate, I mean I have breasts but to me there are too small so I wear a breastplate when I perform I wear a fake, fake butt and I cinch my waist. I transform my body to a very, very, what the society says that is feminine. So I play with that what is really insulting for me is that to this day, even though I have a huge following and I do have a lot of local fans that I have opportunities that are not given to me because I am a woman. Obviously, most of the times they won’t say that it’s the reason but when you talk to other female drag queens, and we all live the same situations and one plus one is two, right? And yeah, so I’m not really political. I mean, but when it comes down to this, this like, you know all the things about RuPaul saying that being a woman and doing drag is like cheating blah blah like that, yeah, I will – I express myself a lot regarding this issue. But besides that, not really no.
Interviewer: How do you personally feel about RuPaul’s Drag Race?
Wendy Warhol: I don’t watch it anymore. It’s not just because of that, it’s because she does the same thing over and over again, just like, it’s not original anymore. You know, I keep an eye on it because I mean, I’m in the industry and lots of my friends, even drag friends are still watching it. But I used to like it for the first, I would say, eight seasons maybe. And then I just started to notice that it was just a big cash machine, it was like just okay. We’ve seen it before. It’s not original. And I’m more like a fan of local queens than what you see on TV because anyway what you see on TV are local queens that have just been put on T.V., right? But I don’t know them. And I love to support people I don’t actually know. So yeah, and we have other options now for drag, I mean there are other shows like Dragula, which is more inclusive and different. Like it shows, yeah, of course it’s dark and stuff, but I mean, the challenges every season – what there are only three seasons, but it’s different, you know, it’s the RuPaul’s just like the same over and over again. And that got me bored. Like, blah, blah, blah. We’ve seen it before. And also, all the comments, like RuPaul saying “We are born naked and the rest is drag,” but it’s been like what twelve, thirteen seasons, I don’t even know anymore and yeah, And yeah, there are no drag kings. There are no female drag queens, and just a big lie so I feel like it’s sad because yes, RuPaul has helped the local queens in a sense, because I mean it has put the – the art form like in a mainstream way. So, people who didn’t know about drag now they do. But in a sense, it really doesn’t help anything that’s outside cisgendered men, cismale drag queens being fishy queens for most of the time. There are lots of other drag forms and people who started getting to know about drag with RuPaul think – they think that RuPaul is kind of the Holy Bible of drag. So, if you do something that is outside of that, then you are being invalidated. Which is bad, not just, what the, what people used to say, like it was more for like, the older audience they used to, when they were around a lot of other drag forms it was like, more like what we see now, but it’s not true actually, when I go to bars, I see a lot of older people in the public being like really intrigued and they actually like that they are acting as other kinds of other drag forms. And then sometimes you meet like young people in their 20s saying like “Oh girl, you can’t be a drag queen you’re a woman, there’s no woman in RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul knows everything. RuPaul doesn’t know everything – well he knows actually, he knows. But yeah, I mean, I wouldn’t mind if he was like okay, “This is my show and what I want in my show are cismale drag queens.” But this is not what he said. He said that transwomen, truly fully full-up women, and biological women doing drag as queens are cheating just like you would cheat- you wouldn’t cheat at the Olympics, so- and saying that RuPaul is the Olympics so yeah, I think it’s pretty insulting, so yeah. That’s my opinion on RuPaul.
Interviewer: I agree. And then what pronouns do you use inside and outside of drag?
Wendy Warhol: Oh, she. She.
Interviewer: Okay, has drag influenced how you think about gender at all?
Wendy Warhol: Not much. To me it’s an art form. I mean, I know that it does help trans people sometimes when they are trying, you know, exploring their gender and their sexuality. So, it helps them to explore. And then at some point, they feel comfortable and confident enough to pursue that in their personal life. But, outside of that, well to me it doesn’t change anything because I’m not a trans person and I don’t, I don’t have issues with my sexuality or gender. But to me, it’s more like an art form like any other art form. I mean, basically what I say all the time is that we are clowns for adults.
Interviewer: I like that, how has drag impacted or changed you?
Wendy Warhol: Oh, a lot. I’ve always been an artist. Like, when I was young, I used to draw and paint a lot and then like, I took piano lessons, I took dance lessons, you know and blah, blah, blah. And when I discovered drag, what I like about drag is that it’s a lot of different art things that you can put into one. I mean, I dance, I lip sync, I create looks, I take pictures, I even take videos. So, it’s very, very complete drag form. So, I really feel more complete as an artist doing drag than when I was just drawing or just playing the piano, because it’s more like, it’s more like a very spectrum. And it’s really, I can really express myself the sides of, when I was drawing, it wasn’t – I didn’t feel as complete as I am now doing drag. Also, I started doing drag I was in a really dark moment of my life. So, my confidence, I was lacking confidence a lot, I didn’t feel really, I was feeling pretty low. So, it helped me going through this. And it helped me also building my self-confidence because you don’t have the choice to have self-confidence when you’re a drag artist. When you put yourself on a stage in front of an audience, you have to push it, you know, it’s not the time to, to feel, like, frightened or anything. So, and also, all the, how can I say, all the, the hate that I got as an artist, like it’s a very competitive – well, it’s just like everything else in life, but I feel like it may be a little bit worse in the drag world. It’s very competitive, so when you’re trying to have success or anything, people will try to drag you down. So, I’m still fighting with them. And I guess, you know, I talked to other drag artists that I respect a lot who have, like, much more experience that I do saying to me like, “Well you build it – you better built yourself a shield because, because it will happen, you know, your entire career. as long as you…” because I deal with that, well that, what I think but that’s what other people tell me is because I’m different and I don’t, I don’t. I don’t fear expressing myself on certain issues. And that I started having success pretty early in my career, when I was a drag king I didn’t have that you know, I didn’t have that hate. But when I changed to be a queen, I feel like I was a threat, maybe? I don’t know I didn’t feel like that because I was just supportive, I’m not a bitchy kind of person. I used to- now I do it less and less, because obvious on me, why would I support people who don’t support I don’t have energy for that. I don’t have time for that. But at the beginning, I was supporting fully supporting everybody, and was really friendly and stuff, but it taught me at some point that you know, people don’t care even if you support them. If they don’t like you, they don’t like you. No matter the reason. I’ve been, I’ve been through a lot of shit because of that, even this week, I mean, last week Thursday, I was doing a live on Facebook and someone reporting for sexual content and nudity. But I was fully dressed. I was just performing some songs. And I’ve been In Facebook Jail for 24 hours. And besides that, I talked with another queen, she did another live, I think it was like a few hours later. I don’t know who she was talking about, but she said there was some drama in our drag scene here in Montreal because actually, once we have the quarantine we have a weekly show, including like lots of drag artists and they raise up to help the drag queens, like the drag artists to help, to be able to keep going with their lives, because I mean, all the bars are closed and a lot of people have lost their job. So, they raise money every week for that, but that but then other queens or other artists – drag artists, like myself, have started to do their own thing. I have my weekly show every Thursday at 8pm. And I do it mostly to entertain myself and to entertain whoever wants to watch. And it’s the way for me to keep going, you know, to keep doing drag, because I don’t know how long this will last. And I want to keep that fire I don’t want to be like, “Oh, I won’t do anything for a month, and then start again,” I will – no, this isn’t what I want. I want to keep going. And I’m like we have – we are lucky enough to have these technologies that we can use. So as soon as the quarantine was done and all the bars closed, right that week, week one from week one, I started doing it’s been a month now that are every week I do my show. And I do it on Facebook and then I pin a comment with my PayPal and email address in case if someone wants to tip me. And what is wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with that. My show – my shows are free. You are more than welcome to watch my show for free you don’t have to give anything but then if you want to, why not? So, people and not just me, I mean I’m talking about myself it’s not just me, other drag artists have started doing like their thing here and there. And that friend who had done the live, she was like “Why is why this drama is going on? I mean, people are free to do whatever they want, if Wendy wants to put her link to her PayPal Me account, why is that a problem?” So I thought is that people were talking behind my back because of what I’m doing. And when I saw, like when I was performing last Thursday is that my Live caught and then a popup thing appeared on my phone saying broadcast failed, reported for sexual content and nudity. In your inquiry In Facebook Jail for 24 hours. And if it happens again, you’ll be in Facebook jail for three days. And I was like, you know, I was like, okay, this – this is not like, this is someone who wants to ruin my thing, and I just think it’s sad, because why do- doesn’t change anything? I mean it doesn’t change anything. If you are jealous, why, well, just start your own thing. It doesn’t take anything away from, because they were like, [inaudible]. I don’t know, I don’t I tried to ask her where the drama was, and she was like, uh, it would have been worse. like knowing who was talking about that blah, blah, blah, she didn’t want to put wood into the fire by telling names and so, but I believe her because I’ve been through that kind of stuff in the last few years, so and I don’t know what I wanted to say. But anyway yeah, yeah they were saying like we have enough of the Tuesday show where all the cash that you are getting are disputed equality between the queens so if someone like Wendy does her stuff and asks for money then it takes away money from the Tuesday night show. I’m like no it doesn’t, because if people tip me, they tip me, I’m not in every Tuesday night show I’ve been in one of these so far. So if people want to tip me they tip me they’re not tipping an entire show. I mean, so to me it’s just jealousy because I’m a I’m a fighter in life and um, I try things, I push myself pretty hard. And I work hard while other people are waiting for someone to come to go to them, while I create my own opportunities. I just think it’s sad because I mean, everybody can do whatever they want, and the thing is, this is the moment, actually to create your own thing because you don’t have any limit. When you perform at a bar, you are at the mercy of the people who give you the opportunity to perform, or you have to produce big shows or produce your own show that cost lots of money, but if you do your thing in your living room with your cellphone and using your music, I mean, it doesn’t cost a lot – doesn’t cost anything and so yeah, I don’t get it. Whatever, you just – I’m getting like, how can I say, it doesn’t affect me much as it used to, but sometimes it does. Like Thursday I had a bad – a bad day after because it was like, well, someone can ruin everything I’ve worked for with a click just like report, that’s it, and I just thought it sucked really. We’ll see this Thursday if it happens again.
Interviewer: Yeah. So, are you part of a drag family or a house or collective?
Wendy Warhol: Yes, actually, I do have a drag mom, a drag family, funny thing is my drag mom, and I have a drag sister, who- actually I do have another drag sister but she’s not doing drag anymore but she – I have two drag sisters one’s not doing drag anymore and the other one does. And my both my mom and my other sister are located in Vancouver. I’m not from there at all. Because, I was when I’m here in Montreal and I met these people from Vancouver actually this couple, one of them is from Montreal, so they come often here, so I met them in a bar, I guess. But I met the guy from Montreal first because he was coming here along to see some stuff. And then introduced me to now my drag mom through Instagram, and we started to talk and blah, blah, blah, and that was about a year – last January, not this year, but the last one the one before, January 2019. I was in Vancouver for the first time to be with them for a week and to perform there. And this is where Mina Mercury adopted me. Even if she’s really far, I mean, she’s really supportive. Like, I think drag families from here, like people will say “Hey look this is my drag daughter,” but they don’t interact at all. We just have the title, you know, they don’t share anything. they don’t do anything together. They’re not – practically not even friends, just acquaintances. But my drag mom is really far, but she’s really supportive. Just like today there is this big drag- virtual drag show like the, you know, the one I told you about every Tuesday here in Montreal. Mina, my drag mom was the one who started the whole thing here in Montreal, if she could do it with the West Coast edition. So, she’s doing it tonight and she showed me her number like the intro number of the show. And she’s wearing my merch in it. I just thought it was cute.
Interviewer: Is there anything unique to the drag scene where you live in Montreal compared to other places in the world or the country?
Wendy Warhol: Well, I, I’ve seen how it’s worked only in other few places like Vancouver, in New York, and Quebec, like other cities here in the province of Quebec. I would say that we are pretty lucky here in Montreal. For us, for the venue that we have, like we have big back – and I’m going to sound stupid but it’s really fun for us. We have big backstage space, where I seen that in other places, sometimes they don’t even have a backstage they already come fully dressed and like painted and everything and to perform like several songs in the same costume, the same outfit. Like here, we change it for every song and we can get prepared at the bars and the venues, because they have space for that and the stage itself, like I went to New York City in January and it was the first time that I saw drag shows like in person in New York. And I was like, Well, where’s the stage? They don’t have a stage. Like, that’s what they call the stage? Oh my god, this is so tiny. I was like okay, I’m never gonna say anything about our stage here in Montreal ever again. And yeah, and I would say to me that, because I know when, I know that Vancouver is quite open with what they call their hyperqueens it’s our female drag queens I don’t like that, I don’t like when they call us differently I don’t like the term bioqueen, hyperqueen, whatever I don’t like that I mean I am a drag queen and that’s it. You don’t have to identify me by what I have between my legs. I do the same thing. I am a person doing the drag art in the female form for drag and queen and that’s it. But they are – they’re really, really, into that type of queen term. But they are more accepted there, I would say, than other places in the world, even here when I started I, would see what was going on there and it looked like it was more accepted, but is it really, I mean, when you are a visitor these things come in from an outside perspective you know, so now I don’t, I don’t see anything else. I guess it’s different from place to place I don’t know.
Interviewer: So, when there’s not a global pandemic going on, how often would you say that you perform drag?
Wendy Warhol: Oh, a lot, well, at least once a week, sometimes it went as far as five times a week depends – it depends all the time but I would say over, over, 100 nights in a year.
Interviewer: Yeah, do you perform at the same place or do you perform at different places every week?
Wendy Warhol: Obviously, in Montreal, we have like two main bars who are like drag bars. They have, but there are other bars that have like weekly drag shows. So, in the village I would play there are 1, 2, 3, 4- 4 places where we can perform drag and I perform in all four of them. But sometimes I go outside of Montreal. Like I said, I even performed in Vancouver. I performed in other cities here in the province of Quebec where there are drag shows, actually before all that [inaudible] thing, I was supposed to go to Puerto Vallarta to perform there but then my trip got cancelled. Yes, I perform everywhere. I mean, corporate gigs as well, special events like pride, but pride got canceled this year here. Yeah, so, every I mean, every place that want me.
Interviewer: How would you personally define drag?
Wendy Warhol: Like I said, I think we are clowns for adults, we are there mostly to entertain and to make people have a good time but also live different emotions. You can be indifferent I mean you can be political it can be – it’s hard to try to answer because it’s really personal. I would say, but in one sentence I would say drag is–
Interviewer: Would you repeat that, I didn’t hear that?
Wendy Warhol: In one sentence I would say that drag is clowns for adults.
Interviewer: Oh yes – and then do you think that’s
Wendy Warhol: But I will say that it’s very personal. For people who take this way too seriously I keep, even when I take things too seriously, because it does happen I mean, it’s my art form. I always try to keep reminding me this, “We are just clowns for adults out there.” So yeah.
Interviewer: Do you think that drag is sexual?
Wendy Warhol: Um, can be, I mean, not in a kinky way, like, real thing. I mean, I have so many, like, mostly gay dudes or closet people who think that I’m a man behind my drag and then they send me like dick pics and naughty messages
Interviewer: Oh no
Wendy Warhol: Oh yeah, yeah – a lot. So, in that sense, no. I mean, I am not a sexual fantasy. Once again, I am a clown. I think it’s kind of strange to have people sexually attracted to drag artists To the point of sending dick pics and stuff. You know, I’m not on Grindr, save your dick pics for Grindr. I mean I’m on Facebook sometimes in the morning I wake up and have my – and I see a message on messenger and it’s probably a dick I mean come on, I didn’t ask for this? I didn’t ask for this, what the fuck is that?
Interviewer: Right
Wendy Warhol: It’s disgusting. There’s no consent. I mean, you didn’t ask me if I want to see it. Just pow. Right in my face in the morning. So not sexual but it can be a way to express sexuality. I mean, I do numbers sometimes, like half naked on stage. And I express my sexuality that way, on a, on a sexual song. But then again, just a way to express my art. It doesn’t mean that because I do that, that I want sexual relationships while being in drag. That’s just an expression, so if I want to express, just like anything else you can express whatever you want. I mean, I’ve been doing numbers with straitjacket because I wanted to express problems with mental issues when you’re being in the like, if you have mental issues, then you know I have mental issues. I wanted to express that, so I did a number with a straight jacket. it’s the same and if I want to show some something that talks about wealth, then I’ll be dressed like as a rich bitch. If I want to express like my sexuality and just me being flirty and stuff, because I’m not like that in my life but I give myself permission to express myself all the way I want. But yeah, but some, I guess some people are into it. I mean, I don’t know. I never really asked my other drag friends ‘Have you ever had sex while being in drag?’ but I would say most would say no, I’m pretty sure. So, but to each their own, you know, I mean, I’m not here to judge, to me it’s not a, to me it’s just, you know, it’s just a character.
Interviewer: Yeah if you could change one thing about drag, the drag scene or the drag community what would that be?
Wendy Warhol: That would be that for once, can we please accept that all drag is valid? And yeah, it would be that.
Interviewer: You mentioned a couple but what are some other like misconceptions that you think people have about drag?
Wendy Warhol: Well, of course, that only men can be queens. That it’s easy, like just putting a dress in a wig and you lip sync on a stage it’s easy, no it is not easy. It’s like every other art form it needs to be you need to work hard for it. Also, that every drag artists are really bitchy because of what they show on RuPaul which is not true. We’re not fighting all the time backstage, you know? Pretty rare actually. Um, I don’t know.
Interviewer: For the, the ones that you have mentioned, what do you think are some things that can be done to help change those misconceptions
Wendy Warhol: Well, I fight hard for my pay, and some people, some local queens here do – have said to me that I contributed into changing the local drag scene by the way I fight for it. So I would say that, yeah, I try to fight as much as I can for what concerns me, obviously, because, I mean, I’m not going to fight for something that I don’t know. I can be supportive, you know, and I can be, I can help, but, I mean, I’m not going to talk in the name of other people. Let’s say like, I know that people of color have – sorry, my throat. I know that people of color and trans people, have, like they have their own, too. I cannot talk necessarily, but I can support them with their, with their fight, you know. You know what I am saying?
Interviewer: Yes
Wendy Warhol: I’m not sure if I express myself very well here, but um, it’s not that I don’t want to, I just don’t want to talk in the name of people who I’m not living their reality, like. So, I live my reality as a female as a woman doing drag. And this is what I can really talk about and fight for it. Not saying that I cannot fight for anything else, but I won’t do it on my own. Like, if I have a trans friend who said I need your help with something, then I will totally help them, you know. But yeah, so I mostly concentrate on things that I feel I have the right to say something as a female drag artist, then I’m – yeah, I can, I can do that.
Interviewer: And then if you could choose one thing that you want people to know about or learn about drag from this, what would that be?
Wendy Warhol: Well, that all drag is valid. You don’t have to like everything, but you have to respect it. Just like music, like if you’re a big pop music fan and you don’t like country music, well, that’s okay. But country music still has, it has the right to exist and some people do like country music. You don’t have to like it, but you have to acknowledge that it exists and the people who are doing it are working hard. That’s it. Like the same with drag. I mean, some people may not like bearded queens, that’s fine. But they work hard for their art. And they have the right to perform it and to exist. So yeah, that’s what I would say.
Interviewer: I agree, and then do you have any other experiences or thoughts or anything you’d like to share?
Wendy Warhol: Not really, I think I’ve said it all.
Interviewer: Okay, well thank you so much for participating and I really appreciate getting to talk to you.
Wendy Warhol: My pleasure. So, if you have any other questions you want to ask or anything, don’t hesitate to email me.
Interviewer: Okay thank you so much.
Wendy Warhol: My pleasure, have a great day.
Interviewer: You too, stay safe – bye.
Wendy Warhol: Bye.