Culture

With the massive success of the Netflix series Wednesday, the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race decided to offer its own take on the gothic teenager’s iconic look with another design challenge.
On Friday’s episode (aired March 1), the remaining queens were provided with black fabric and little else, as they attempted to try their hands — or more accurately, their sewing machines — at making neo-goth couture garments.

Proving herself yet again to be this season’s queen of fashion, Q managed to make a massive coat-dress that immediately impressed the judges, earning the star her second win of the season. Meanwhile, the judges told Plasma that her fashion needed a transfusion, whule Mhi’ya Iman LePaige couldn’t flip her way out of a third bottom placement.

Lip synching to a sped-up, TikTok-inspired version of Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” the bottom two gave their best renditions of Wednesday Addams’ disaffected dancing. But in the end, the Queen of Flips managed to pull out another transformative performance, sending Plasma packing.

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Below, Billboard chats with Plasma about the difficulties of a design challenge, why she doesn’t think fellow contestant Dawn “sabotaged” her, and how Drag Race is changing Broadway for the better.

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What, to you, has been the most surprising thing about the last couple months of fans getting to see you on the show?

Oh, that people don’t think I’m an absolute flop! I’m serious! The way in which I have been received as the most irritating queen — someone posted a TikTok that said, “Plasma is like if Miss Cracker snorted Jan.” First, I was like, “Ouch.” And then second, it was like, “Wow, what an amazing compliment.” I feel like I’ve been embraced in this warm, self-referential hug from the fandom, and I do really feel fabulous.

I have to say, my personal favorite of those kinds of funny reads was when Megami posted what she would’ve said in the reading challenge, and she said, “Plasma is known for her BFA — Being F–king Annoying.”

Girl! [Laughs.] I mean, “Being F–king Annoying” was brilliant and we were denied an opportunity to see her read me for filth on television. But it’s all good, Xunami really took the cake with that Jan. 6th read. Now, just to clear the air, since that challenge I’ve had a couple of people genuinely ask me where I was on Jan. 6th — I was at home in Texas, watching in shock and despair like we all were. It was definitely red territory, but not as red as a damn insurrection. Anyways, Xunami really ate me up with that one.

There’s been some comparison between you and Abbott Elementary star Chris Perfetti, who has since commented on the comparisons and said how complimented he feels by association. What was that like, seeing him respond that way?

I believe in the power of manifestation, and with those memes, I had been manifesting an opportunity to get in touch with Chris Perfetti and with the Abbott Elementary team. Like, for months, I have been manifesting this idea that I look so much like the gay teacher on Abbott, and I would love any opportunity to perform or to act with these people I respect in pop culture! I had this wild idea of me getting on the show for an episode and playing his brother, and maybe it’s a Drag Queen Story Hour storyline with the school, or some kind of narrative that isn’t so like, “Look at me, I’m a Drag Race girl doing a cameo on a show!” No, I want to be able to go on as a character under Quinta [Brunson]’s vision, that’s the dream. 

So, when he actually spoke about it and said he loved me and gave this very humbling compliment, I fell out. Like, that is the impact of Drag Race! It meant literally the entire world to me, and I would be so thrilled to work with him someday. He seems like an absolute gem. 

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The Drag Race impact is certainly having a much bigger effect lately — I mean this year alone, we have two former girls from the show, Jinkx Monsoon and Marcia Marcia Marcia, set to perform in blockbuster shows on Broadway. What does that tell you about how Drag Race, or maybe even the theater industry itself, is changing culture?

It’s terribly exciting, we love to see all of this happening. But I’m actually really glad you brought up both Jinkx and Marcia. Because Jinkx of course is a superstar, a legend. But Marcia is also making her debut in a queer-focused role, not a drag-focused role — and that’s important, because it tells me that the show is now reaching a mainstream capacity for understanding a queer experience that doesn’t necessarily hinge on drag. That’s incredible, because there’s so much more to the drag experience than putting on your wig and costume and going out and doing your three-and-a-half-minute Barbra Streisand ballad, in my case. It’s cool to see Broadway also starting to reflect a more human experience in queerness. 

So yeah, I’m very excited about that direction, especially for Broadway today, because it feels like for every Cabaret and Chicago we get, we’re also getting stuff like A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical. Or, as I joked as Patti LuPone on my Reels, “What the hell do we need a Jimmy Buffet musical for?” And all love and respect to the performers in the companies of those shows, a gig is a gig and I respect the hustle! Patti also said “Broadway is an amusement park right now,” and when I see people like Marcia getting Cabaret, or I see Jinkx starting in Chicago, and the going to Little Shop of Horrors, and playing Carnegie Hall, or even Peppermint starring in Head Over Heels on Broadway [in 2018] … it just feels like we’re heading the right way, thanks to all of these girls using the platform to change the narrative on Broadway and in entertainment. 

Well, we should at least talk a little bit about the show. I was a little gagged when they announced a third design challenge at the top of this episode. I appreciated in Untucked when you said that sewing is a fundamental part of drag that you also just don’t like. What is it about designing garments that doesn’t speak to you?

What is it that Violet Chachki quote? “If you call yourself a designer but you can’t sew, you are a fashion secretary.” And girl, I am the proudest fashion secretary out there! I have what I think is really great taste, and a good eye for design — I just do not necessarily have the technique or the background in sewing and creation to make it happen for myself. That said, I have an immense appreciation for everyone who sews.

Now I’m going to get on my soapbox — because on the show, people say, “She’s not a seamstress, so she doesn’t have the talent.” But my perspective is, I actually can sew, and if I had time, I would love to be a seamstress. However, the Drag Race industry waits for no one, so if you’re not coming in with an expert capability to sew and an expert knowledge of the sewing machine, how the hell are you going to make an impressive garment in 16 hours, like we’re being asked to on Drag Race? Like, I’m good at crafting, but crafting and sewing are two households, both alike in dignity, you know? I am proud and thrilled to get to stand alongside fashion girls like Q and Nymphia and Dawn, who killed this challenge. 

Speaking of Dawn, there were some insinuations from the judges about Dawn “sabotaging” you by saying that you should try a different silhouette in this challenge, and you were quick to say that you did not feel that way in Untucked. Where are you at with that today?

Look, for the people who are going to try and claim that she “sabotaged” me, I still do not feel that happened. She just gave me an idea that I ran with. I am not a seamstress, I chose to do something that was different from what I’d done. If I wanted to wear a floor-length trumpet gown, I f–king would have, because I won a challenge in one of those two weeks ago.

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Before we run out of time, I wanted to know, what music have you been listening to lately?

I’m still blasting Jessie Ware’s “Free Yourself” album [That! Feels Good!], I just cannot get enough. My dream collaboration would be recording a jazz cover with Jessie Ware.