drag

A brand new series has returned with 12 new hopefuls battling it out for the winning title

RuPaul’s Drag Race descended into chaos with an apparent feud exposed just minutes in.

The latest season of the hit show has returned to BBC screens tonight (September 3) with an impressive roster of celebrity guests.

As always, 12 new hopefuls will be battling it out for the coveted title of the next Drag Race Superstar. Resident judges Alan Carr, Graham Norton, and Michelle Visage have returned to the BBC panel alongside an A-list rotation of guest judges including Hollywood actress Thandiwe Newton.

The brand new season kicked off this evening, with episodes available on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three.

But it wasn’t long before the show was plunged into chaos when an apparent feud became known. Paris Baby was the third contestant to be introduced as she admitted she liked to “start some drama”.

However, introducing herself to her cast members, she confessed to “saying some things” about former drag queens that have previously been seen on the show.

Stating she had been blocked after messages were “leaked”, she was then asked what she would do if one of the girls walked in the room today, to which she replied: “Ask them why they blocked me.”

And it wasn’t long before tensions started to rise, when Flesh walked in the doors, drag related family to previous contestants Bones and Krystal Versace.

Appearing to be one of those who had “blocked” Paris Baby, the two soon met face to face. When asked about their history, Flesh replied: “I don’t think we’ve ever met before”, as Paris Baby explained.

Speaking to cameras, Flesh admitted: “I didn’t immediately recognise Paris until I sat down and she said we had beef. We’ve never met but I saw her perform once and I left before the number had finished. I thought it was rude to laugh.”

Explaining to the group, she continued: “We are a super tight family so anyone speaks about your family you’re obviously going to say well you’re not going to be in our space.” Flesh then branded Paris a “troll” before a tense head to head that had had the group in fits of laughter.

But some fans watching at home were left unimpressed as one person said on X: “Flesh VS Paris Baby – The two have their first encounter of the season and well …” Another wrote: “Is Paris Baby becoming already one of the least liked queens from the franchise already?” However, one viewer said: “I love Paris baby so so much already I just know she’s only gonna last like 2 episodes though”

A synopsis for the episode reads: “A brand spanking new series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK returns! Over the next ten weeks, a cast of fabulous new drag queens will compete for RuPaul’s seal of approval and the much-coveted title of UK’s Next Drag Race Superstar.

“International drag legend RuPaul welcomes the queens into the werkroom for the very first time. Entering one by one, they meet their fellow competitors, and of course, they meet RuPaul, who sets them a surprise first challenge.

“The queens are tasked with staging a talent show at the Werkin’ Queens’ Club – RuPaul’s very own twist on a traditional working men’s club.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race can be streamed on BBC iPlayer

Dolly Parton may be gone, but her spirit of self-expression is still making waves — this time in a Texas federal court.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner on Tuesday cited the late artist in his decision to strike down Senate Bill 12, a 2023 law that sought to restrict drag shows. His decision, which blocks the Texas attorney general from enforcing the law, noted that the prohibition was “an unconstitutional restriction on speech.”

Just as many people “chastised Dolly Parton as a voluptuous sex symbol because of her big hair, flamboyant clothes and breast exposure … there are erotic elements in countless popular performances that could be subject to both civil and criminal penalties under S.B. 12,” Hittner wrote in his decision.

And because the law doesn’t specify who determines whether a performance “appeals to the prurient interest” or that the work be considered as a whole, a single sexual or erotic moment in a performance could result in penalties, he wrote. Those penalties include civil fines of up to $10,000 for businesses and a misdemeanor charge that carries up to a year in jail for participating individuals.

Hittner’s decision came down on the same day Parton, the 80-year-old legendary songwriter, actor and businesswoman, died following a brief battle with cancer.

Parton was referenced several times in court records associated with the case. One of the plaintiffs, Brigitte Bandit, a drag queen and longtime activist, frequently performs as the Grammy-winning artist.

In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Bandit wrote that Parton had been a “huge influence” on her life and her drag performances. She even brought a children’s book about Parton to testify at the Texas Capitol, which eventually got back to the country music star, who then gifted Bandit a signed rhinestone-covered guitar.

“Dolly has shaped much of my life as a drag artist,” Bandit wrote on Instagram, calling her a “queen who has changed the world with her love, artistry, and GLAM! my diva forever.”

After the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Parton called herself a “patron saint” of the gay community in an interview with Billboard.

“All those drag queens, sometimes I see some of them look more like me than I do,” said the star, who famously lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest.

Tuesday’s ruling wasn’t the first time the law, widely touted as a “drag ban,” has been deemed unconstitutional by the courts.

Hittner initially struck down the law in September 2023, just a few months after the Texas Legislature passed it. In November 2025, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the lower court’s injunction and returned the case to district court with instructions on how to reconsider it.

In the end, the high court’s directions did not change Hittner’s determination that the law violates the 1st and 14th amendments.

Hittner wrapped up his decision with a suggestion for those who oppose or are offended by the performances: “[T]he solution is relatively simple … just don’t go.”

Aug. 26 (UPI) — A U.S. district court has blocked Texas from banning drag performances as unconstitutional, ruling that the solution to the problem is for those who find such events offensive to just not attend.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 12 into law in June 2023 to ban “sexually oriented performances” via civil penalties on businesses that host them and criminal penalties on performers.

It has been debated in the courts since, with a court ruling it unconstitutional in 2023 and an appeals court in February allowing it to take effect while sending the case back to the district court for review.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Hittner, a Reagan appointee who issued the 2023 ruling, declared Senate Bill 12 an unconstitutional restriction on speech and ordered that the state be permanently enjoined from enforcing it.

“Finally, for those who find such activities as described in this case offensive, the solution is relatively simple … just don’t go,” Hittner said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate with President Donald Trump‘s endorsement, called the ruling in a statement “flawed,” arguing without proof that it will endanger children while being “an affront to Texas values.”

“I will appeal this decision immediately and continue to fight to protect our kids,” he said online.

Meanwhile, civil rights and LGBTQ advocates celebrated the ruling.

“Today’s decision confirms that the legislature’s attempt to ban drag performances was unconstitutional from start to finish,” Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which filed the original lawsuit in August 2023, said in a statement.

“This law stifled free expression across our state and made people afraid to engage in or attend drag shows and other performances. But all Texans — no matter our gender or background — are guaranteed the right to free expression.”

Brigitte Bandit, a drag performer and a plaintiff in the case, said the ruling was “a relief.”

“As a lifelong Texan, I’m sick of this state trying to censor art and stoke hatred and violence against drag artists and the LGBTQIA+ community. No one should be punished for performing drag, and I wish lawmakers would take steps to protect kids from real dangers in our state instead of trying to divide and marginalize us.”

It’s no secret that Hollywood has dealt with a significant production downturn since the end of the streaming content boom three years ago. But the programs that have stuck to the Southland have reaped the benefits. And that goes for a slew of major-category Emmy nominees such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which has filmed on stages all over L.A. County since its inception.

“First and foremost, it’s the people. I love the local people, but the people that come to Hollywood with a dream, with a drive, and their dreams sometimes get all twisted and turned, but they still have that ambition,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race” executive producer Tom Campbell says. “That’s why I love working with L.A. crews, and I love L.A. We’ve got 19 seasons in the can right now, and we’re about to start our 20th in not too long. To be with people that get to go home to their pets, or wives, or husbands, or children, makes for a different vibe on set. That’s kind of an incredible [bonus]. It’s a quality-of-life thing.”

Other iterations of the franchise have filmed all over the globe, from Colombia to Portugal to the Philippines, but Campbell doesn’t see how a hub in South America would allow guest judges such as Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Teyana Taylor or Cardi B to appear in person. He notes, “The celebrities don’t make or break the show, but the stars have to align that they have a day off when we’re shooting. And I think that kind of access and availability could only happen in L.A. I don’t think we’d get Cardi B for a day if she had to leave L.A.”

For “Drag Race” production designer Jen Chu, the ability to acquire raw materials in a short period of time is game-changing. She bluntly observes, “Sometimes you just need the assurance that you can go down the street and get that unusual prop or get that super-specific acrylic Plexi or anything that we could possibly need. It is somewhere in the city.”

Michelle Visage, left, RuPaul, Jamal Sims and Carson Kressley in “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

(Jordin Althaus / World of Wonder)

Chu’s 15-person team also has an encyclopedic knowledge about where to get what they need and whom to ask at a moment’s notice. “It’s very, very common for somebody to be like, ‘Can you make a giant six-foot-tall pill bottle by tomorrow?’” she adds. “I think in those situations, we’re definitely calling on our resources and our friends and colleagues that we’ve known for so long. So, it could be anything from calling your laminate dealer that you’ve had in your phone for 20 years, or it’s literally like calling another dresser because you know that they have a life-size teapot in their backyard for some weird reason. It’s not uncommon for somebody to be like, ‘I know a guy that has a giant pickle or a huge frying pan’ or something like that.”

Veteran “Abbott Elementary” producer Patrick Schumacker is about to shoot a new Netflix series in L.A. and says it’s where to find the “most skilled, most experienced and best of the best” in all aspects of production. A lot of the onscreen talent happen to be pretty darn funny too.

“Honestly, so many hysterical actors are based out of here, and it makes it so much easier with regard to guest cast in a comedy,” Schumacker admits. “Casting becomes infinitely easier versus trying to get people to fly in from L.A. to a production elsewhere.”

Quinta Brunson’s landmark series is set in Philadelphia, but Schumacker credits location manager David Lyons for finding “outstanding places” that double for the city. He recalls, “We had a whole mall arc when the school had to relocate, and that was based on Franklin Mills, which is a real mall in Philadelphia that has the giant Ben Franklin head in it. The other part of the two-pronged attack is Michael Whetstone, Suzan Wexler and our entire art department, who have transformed the back lot at Warner Brothers into West Philly. They keep building out more and more of it every year.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph, right, in “Abbott Elementary.”

(Gilles Mingasson / Disney)

It’s also incredibly difficult to fake another city for Los Angeles. Can you imagine the L.A. romance “Nobody Wants This” trying to duplicate Silver Lake, Los Feliz or Koreatown in Atlanta?

“A real location helps the dialogue sound better. It looks better. It helps the actors know they’re in a real place. It helps the audience feel like they’re watching a real scene,” series creator and executive producer Erin Foster says. “When you think about ‘Sex and the City’ in its heyday, you would recognize the places that they’re at. You would recognize that they are actually authentic, real places that are cool. And it mattered. It made you take the characters seriously.”

Executive producer Jenni Konner adds, “And it sometimes informs story. We shot at Max & Helen’s, a notoriously difficult-to-get-into restaurant, and we had a story point where they weren’t able to get in because they didn’t realize how competitive it was. That was really fun to be able to highlight that truth of L.A.”

And not to take shots at Hollywood’s East Coast rival, but after the Netflix show recently shot scenes in New York for its upcoming third season, executive producer Bruce Eric Kaplan observed that the Big Apple presents drawbacks L.A. doesn’t. “It feels like the Los Angeles crew is a lot more concerned about our safety,” says the onetime “Girls” producer, lightheartedly. “I don’t remember ever having this many safety conversations, but you could shoot in the middle of anything in New York, and no one’s telling you to be safe.”

“Might be a sign of the times,” Foster wonders.

“Erin, I think you’re right,” Konner replies. “At first, I was like, ‘Oh, but it’s 10 or 15 years later, so safety rules have changed.’ But the truth is we shot in New York, and it did feel scary again. We were in the middle of the street in SoHo …”

Foster adds, laughing, “And they were just like, ‘We’ll just figure it out.’”