In a recently surfaced video, Puerto Rican drag queen Alexis Mateo called out RuPaul’s Drag Race for its treatment of contestants of Latinx descent. She also criticized the show’s fandom and Latinx queens who rarely mention their heritage or speak Spanish.
Drag Race previously came under fire for its treatment of non-white queens and racial abuse from queens’ fandoms on social media, Them.us writes.
Mateo first appeared on the show in season 3. She made it to the final three but was not given the opportunity to lip-sync for the top prize. Mateo was later teamed up with Yara Sofia, another Latinx queen, on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. Despite being top performers that season, both were sent home just two episodes before the finale.
In All Stars season 5, Mateo was given a third chance to compete for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar. In this season, one of her competitors, India Ferrah, accused her of plotting to eliminate Shea Couleé, and Mateo was eliminated in the next episode.
In the undated video shared by Twitter user @LaGrupaOficial, Mateo says season 1 runner-up Nina Flowers should have won over BeBe Zahara Benet.
“I don’t care who your great-grandfather is …” Mateo says in the video, “For me, if you don’t speak Spanish, you’re not a Latino. Period, end of discussion. These roots are very important.”
Mateo also mentions the Latinx fans of Drag Race.
“For those of you who are at home celebrating Miz Cracker, (…) stop being sell-outs,” Mateo said. “What we need is Latino support.”
Finally, Mateo called for better treatment of Latinx queens on the reality show.
“All these girls who have had spectacular careers… All sent home, just like that. They sent me home without even having the opportunity to lip-sync [for the crown] in the Top 3 [of season 3].”
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H/T Screen Rant