BenDeLaCreme Is Done With The Bullsh*t
“To the lawmakers themselves? I have nothing to say to them. They are beyond reason. My energy will go toward taking them down, not chatting.”
Although adored by fans for her whimsical onstage persona, Seattle drag performer BenDeLaCreme is feeling “white hot rage” this Pride Month because of the “frightening” spate of anti-drag legislation sweeping the nation. In recent months, she’s appeared on The Daily Show, on MSNBC’s Last Word, and in a powerful Out Magazine essay to say as much.
Her passion for the art form of drag is familiar to longtime fans, many of whom met her on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014. Although beaten to the crown, BenDeLaCreme walked away as Season 6’s Miss Congeniality. Four years later, she joined All Stars Season 3 in hypnotic nipple tassels.
Since Drag Race, the queen of the Emerald City has landed a string of successful projects, most recently as a contestant in Hulu’s faux-competition-show Drag Me to Dinner and producing a traveling stage production, The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show. “I’m so excited to be working on the new tour with my sister Jinkx Monsoon,” she says of the latter. “We’ll be announcing it very soon, and it’s going to be bigger and better than ever.”
Below, BenDeLaCreme shares her Pride Yearbook superlative and her go-to activity for self-care.
BenDeLaCreme On The Power Of Queer Visibility & A Magical Gap Year
If you could give yourself a superlative for the 2023 Pride Yearbook, what superlative would you pick and why?
Most Likely To Be Done With The Bullsh*t! I’ve spent too many years of my life thinking I need to understand everyone’s perspectives and that everyone is deserving of my respect. You know what? If you’re trying to monger fear and criminalize the livelihood of me and my community, you can expect my full wrath unleashed. Sequins are sharp!
What were some of your go-to songs or artists in high school? How about today?
No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom was on a loop for years. I spent high school flip-flopping from one end of the spectrum with Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alanis Morissette, and Tori Amos to the opposite end with Eartha Kitt, Peggy Lee, and The Andrews Sisters. Right now “Venus” by Shocking Blue and “Funnel of Love” by Wanda Jackson are on heavy rotation. I also love Doja Cat and Lizzo, and “Les Fleurs” by Minnie Riperton is a perfect song.
What do you do for self-care? Tell us about your routine and mental health tips.
I write a lot. Sometimes my writing has a creative goal in mind, but sometimes I use it to connect to myself and the world around me. It helps me organize my thoughts. That’s been my biggest journey lately, focusing on the validity of feelings that move through your body and how they guide you, separate from thought or reason.
What’s the most memorable drag show you’ve ever attended?
When I was 18, I took a gap year after high school. I lived in Boston and waited tables in Harvard Square. That year I saw three pieces of drag art that fed my soul in ways I’d never imagined. One was Charles Busch’s film adaptation of his own play Psycho Beach Party. Another was the Gold Dust Orphans’ live production of The Bad Seed, but the most influential was Varla Jean Merman’s Holiday Ham, which is the most imaginative, bonkers, sprawling, delirious, and inspiring piece of performance I had ever seen. It tickled every single pleasure receptor in my body, and touched on every aesthetic and cultural moment that had ever brought me joy. Varla has since taken me under her wing as her adopted drag daughter, and continues to create some of the most inspiring work I’ve ever seen.
Who are your favorite drags queens and why?
Well, Varla, duh. Peaches Christ, Coco Peru, Jackie Beat, Sherry Vine, Charles Busch, Dina Martina, and the late, great Heklina. They’re all performers who inspired me early on and who, to varying degrees, have become friends. It’s a dream come true.
How do you feel about anti-drag laws popping up across the nation? What would you say to lawmakers who are opposing the art of drag?
I have a lot to say to anyone on the fence about supporting these bills and the mentality behind them. I’d tell those folks about the importance of access to gender-affirming health care for kids, the importance of queer visibility for young people, the dangers of vilifying any one group of people, and the insidious way that conservatives in this country have linked queerness to the endangerment of children for decades. It’s the easiest way to get people to fear us.
These drag bans not only endanger the LGBTQIA+ community, but also invite the government into everyone’s homes and dictate how to raise children, opening a door for further government reach. To the lawmakers themselves? I have nothing to say to them. They are beyond reason. My energy will go toward taking them down, not chatting.
This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.
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