The annual roast challenge has taken another queen. This time, it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 contestant Kenya Pleaser.
Pleaser told Blavity that the main challenge — roasting Drag Race fan favorite and reigning RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars winner Alyssa Edwards — became more intimidating as the challenge progressed.
“For me, I was honestly confident going into it because I was coming fresh off of two high placements. I was in the top two of the week before, and I was like, ‘Girl, I’m f*****g funny, I know I’m funny. I’m funny conversationally,’” she said. “When it’s time to think about jokes and roasting somebody, I was like, ‘Girl, I don’t know how to talk s**t about Alyssa Edwards.’ She’s insane. Alyssa’s a character of a person, but I didn’t know how to attack it. And then I started second-guessing myself. …It was very scary, truly, ’cause she’s so intimidating.”
RuPaul’s affirmation had a lasting impact
Another surprising moment for viewers came when RuPaul openly praised Pleaser on the mainstage, emphasizing her talent and potential. Pleaser said the moment was deeply affirming.
“As a Black queer man that operates in drag and queer spaces, it felt very affirming to hear one of our Black icons and legends say such affirming things to me in a way, like, ‘B***h, you are a star. You have it. You just need to dig deep,’” Pleaser said. “And she brought up the little boy in me. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ She’s speaking to me in such a way that I have never been spoken to, ever in my life, explicitly about my star quality and about my queerness. It just meant the absolute world to me to hear RuPaul say those things.”
“It was very jarring to hear that on the main stage because I felt like she took the veil down and she just wanted to be f*****g real with me,” she continued. “That’s why, during my elimination speech, I was just so grateful and thankful to even be on, just to even be on this season to get this platform. I’m just forever grateful. I feel like I can’t say thank you enough.”
“RuPaul changed my life forever,” she said. “…I had a lot of stuff going on, like leaving the church and everything, and this is the first time in my life I was able to be Black, queer and myself at the same time. This experience was transformational for me.”
Opening up about her church background
Pleaser also spoke about the lack of support she experienced from people in her church community after she was cast on Drag Race, which added another layer of pressure to her experience on the show.
“You get so close to these people — this is a church family — and I got announced on Drag Race, I hear nothing from people I’ve known since I was a child,” she said. “No one knew that I did drag. I did drag as a secret. My grandparents didn’t know. The only people that knew I wanted to do Drag Race out of my family were my mom and my sister.”
“This was a secret — I went into Drag Race as a secret drag queen in South Carolina,” she added. “So it was a lot of pressure on me not only to do well, but to prove to them that, girl, I could be fat, Black, gay and be involved in the church. The Black church diaspora, honey… I can write a book. I feel like so many Black gay men in the South can. We can go on and on. It’s very sad, you know?”
Reflecting on her final lip-sync
As for her elimination, Pleaser said she was glad that Juicy Love Dion was the queen who ultimately sent her home.
“Juicy is a performer, number one, and a dancer second to me,” Pleaser said. “She knows how to perform and she performs through her dancing. So I knew she was gonna kill the f*****g lip-sync and I was intimidated.”
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, Juicy has sent home two front runners so far,’ and I’m like, ‘Girl, this is insane,’” she continued. “So going into the lip-sync, I wasn’t feeling that confident. And then also, after having that conversation with RuPaul, I was feeling out of it, and then having a conversation with Alyssa [in Untucked], I was in my head.”
She also said the stage setup added to the pressure.
“And then we had fans on stage and when the fans turned on, it just gave me anxiety in a way that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m about to have a panic attack.’ It was scary.”
“It was honestly the worst lip-sync I did on the season. I was so afraid because I knew my time was coming to an end, because very, very few girls survive the JLD from Miami, Florida, honey,” she added. “I did not, but I’m so happy. If anybody was to send me home, b***h, it was her, no shade.”
What’s next for Kenya Pleaser
Looking ahead, Pleaser said she hopes to pursue acting opportunities, including a potential role on Abbott Elementary.
“Quinta Brunson, I’m looking for you,” she said. “I would love to be on Abbott Elementary, Season 6, honey. I feel like I’d be the gay theater teacher that Jacob becomes friends with or have a rivalry [with]. I want to do things like that. I wanna be involved in television and entertainment, getting my personality out there, getting my voice out there with voice acting, different things like that.”
“I want to be a household name, honey, not just as Kenya Pleaser, but as myself,” she continued. “I want to be a household name and…maybe [do] some Broadway. I would love to play Audrey II [in Little Shop of Horrors]. That’s one of my dream roles. I want to do it so bad.”
“I don’t know if reality TV is in my future again, maybe All Stars, I don’t know,” she added. “But outside of drag, I would love to be involved in the entertainment business for sure, in acting.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on MTV.
The post Kenya Pleaser On RuPaul’s Wake-Up Call To Her: ‘She Just Wanted To Be F*****g Real With Me’ appeared first on Blavity.
