Posted October 12, 20222 yr ghu5syrvwNc HADG3GFVnzE There's been a little controversy about the name of one of UK4's contestants. RuPaul has joked about Jonbers Blonde's name being bad, silly, and hard to pronounce, and has taken to calling her alternately J Blonde and JB during the season. However, before going on the show, JB stood for JonBenet Blonde, presumably she changed it in order to be cast on the show. What do you think of the original name? If you're unfamiliar, JonBenet was a Madeline McCann-esque crime case that happened about 30 years ago in the US in which a child (JonBenet) was abducted and sadly later was found deceased. The case was very impactful on pop culture of the time and was one of the biggest modern true crime cases that gained public interest. I think it springs an interesting conversation on whether that drag name was distasteful and perhaps on the differences between UK/US perceptions of whether something bad taste can be a source of humour or used for another purpose. Where do you stand? Aware we have an international community commenting here so feel free to share your view.
October 12, 20222 yr i think it’s really representative drag’s move into the mainstream. the humour of drag and i think queer humour in general used to be so much more purposefully distasteful and about pushing the boundaries of what society had set as ‘acceptable’, much like what drag itself was doing (see divine, jon waters etc.). queens these days have to think more about optics and what ppl on twitter will have to say about everything lol. she’s not the first - sister sister used to be sister fybrosis if i’m not mistaken. i’m not personally a fan and wouldn’t name myself after a dead child star or a serious illness tbh, i guess it’s only funny if you’re in on the joke.
October 12, 20222 yr it's all about context and perspective. this is part of public herstory so it's free-for-all so to say. as long as it's respectful and the actual act does not involve making fun of the topic on purpose then in my opinion that's fair game although i do understand how it might be triggering for the surviving family members but honestly what are the chances they might be watching this? :')
October 12, 20222 yr Author It's interesting, my first take was that it's fair game & drag should be a bit blurring the lines - but then at the same time I thought Etc Etc's choice to play the "dingos ate my baby" mom on Down Under's Snatch Game was crossing a line. Maybe that's more due to being unjustly convicted though.
October 30, 20222 yr Its like Meth who was originally cast in an early season but didnt follow through. Their name is now Me The Drag Queen
November 3, 20222 yr ^ terrible rebrand aswell. They were one of the most talked about U.K. queens about 3/4 years ago, now I don’t feel like I hear that much about them. The name “Meth” was really quite iconic within the scene, what kind of a brand is “ME”?!
