“Language is ever-evolving, and thank gawd for that!
During the second episode of Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World, Victoria Scone had a respectful and very important conversation about the term “fishy” still being used by drag artists as it relates to creating a female illusion. The term had already been used by Stephanie Prince in the first episode of the series.
“As the only cis woman here, I can’t not say it. Did you use the word ‘fishy’ in your verse, out of curiosity?” Scone asked Prince, who did use the term in her lyrics for the girl group challenge. The UK queen added, “Would you understand why that might potentially be offensive to a cis woman, or anyone that owns a vagina?”
Prince alleged that the term “fishy” had been reclaimed among queens from the Philippines. As an AFAB (assigned female at birth) queen, however, Scone still pushed back on that notion – and rightfully so. “People say ‘I look like a biological woman, so I look fishy,’” Scone noted, “because that connects a woman’s vagina to smelling like a fish.”
The Chop Bloque re-posted a video of this interaction between Scone and Prince on Canada vs. the World, which you can watch below.
Later in the episode, Scone acknowledged that not everyone would agree with her stance against the term “fishy,” but that it was still important to say something about it. From what we were able to see in the edit, Prince did take Scone’s comments well and understood what she meant.
Truth be told, “fishy” as a drag term has been going away for many years now. This is very clear from watching the more recent seasons of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, or even just following drag artists in real life and on social media.
Among other things, drag is a way of bending gender and poking fun at it, but that’s absolutely no excuse to correlate being a woman and smelling like fish. This incredibly outdated term was once common in the drag lexicon, but it hasn’t been appropriate or widely used for quite a few years now.
“I’m late to the fish fry but it seems most people coming for Victoria Scone don’t know that gay men have HISTORICALLY & w/DEROGATORY intentions, referred to queer cis women as ‘fish,’” Dragula season three winner Landon Cider wrote in a tweet. “Misogynistic gay men have long hated on lesbians in spaces they deemed as ‘theirs.’ This isn’t new.”
hankfully, Scone used this massive platform to make an important statement that hopefully clarifies things for other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World airs Fridays on WOW Presents Plus.
Canada’s Drag Race season one runner-up and Canada vs. the World contestant Rita Baga has addressed the claims that she’s done blackface in the past.
The accusations at hand relate to a particular performance from Baga where she impersonated Amber Riley from Glee and was called out for doing blackface.
The Québécoise queen wrote in a tweet:
“Bonjour! I saw a lot of things online recently about me and problematic things I’ve done in the past. I have made stupid and hurtful mistakes, a long time ago, that I still regret. Deeply. For those of you who did not know this before, I apologize again. I can’t undo what I’ve done as a young, privileged, and unaware white queen. In 2020, I have ‘exposed’ myself, as you can see below [attachment]. I still own and mean what I wrote back then. And I am still ashamed. I don’t know if writing this post is the right thing to do. But I want to be transparent and honest. I’ve been vocal about this numerous times, and informed people about it too.”
“Seeing that people who ‘called out’ these big mistakes have been criticized and bullied makes absolutely no sense to me,” she continued. “I respect my sisters. And I will never endorse online bullying. (…) The bad actions I’ve done and regret were a long time ago and I will never repeat them. Never. I am full of love. I don’t like drama at all (you may remember it from my season) and avoid confrontation in general. To be transparent, my anxiety level is currently at its highest. Again, I don’t know if writing this is what I should do. But, I apologize again from the bottom of my heart for the harm caused. Love, Rita.”
In the same tweet, Baga included her post from 2020 when she first addressed this matter. Alas, there wasn’t a lot of awareness regarding this situation when Baga first addressed it in 2020. Last week, Canada’s Drag Race season two queen Kimora Amour alluded to it in a tweet that read:
“I love that [people are] calling out others… since we are on the topic of black face… I think it’s time we are open and honest about a [Canada’s Drag Race] queen allegedly doing a form of blackface... and everyone just keeping quiet. Thursday anyone?”
Amour was then interviewed on The Chop Bloque not only to talk about her recent appearance in the Bring Back My Girls series but also to further discuss what she meant by her tweet regarding blackface. Canada’s Drag Race season two winner Icesis Couture also joined the conversation on Twitter Spaces toward the end of the episode.
Though Amour was extremely cautious not to say Baga’s name for most of the episode, Couture didn’t mince words and revealed that they were, in fact, talking about Baga.
According to Amour, Océane Aqua-Black allegedly purchased a bodysuit made for Black skin tones from Baga – a bodysuit that she allegedly used for the performance impersonating Glee star Amber Riley.
The full, three-and-a-half-hour episode of The Chop Bloque can be watched below for full context of what was said by Amour and Couture.
So far, two high-profile Black queens from the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise have reacted to Baga’s apology. Canada’s Drag Race season one Kiara wrote:
“She owned it! [heart emoji] And I forgive her. Already forgave her before.”
Baga’s Canada vs. the World costar Ra’Jah O’Hara tweeted:
“Keep my sis name out you mouth!!! [heart emoji]”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season four airs Thursday on WOW Presents Plus.