Popping culture: Little Edie is reincarnated on RuPaul’s Drag Race

Kudos to Jinkx Monsoon. Boo to the queens who didn’t know who Little Edie was.

On the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the lovely — and narcoleptic — Ms Jinkx Monsoon was getting ready with the rest of the queens for this year’s edition of the Snatch Game, where each queen dresses up as various celebrities and characters. Well, Ms Monsoon decided to perform her own homage to the kookiest of all high- (and low-) society dames, Little Edie Beale, of the famed Grey Gardens.

Now in my book, if you’re a gay man and don’t know who Little Edie is, then that is unfortunate. If you’re a drag queen who makes it onto RuPaul’s Drag Race and you don’t know who she is, then you, my child, are — if I can appropriate a term — ovah.

When Jinkx announces her character to the rest of the crew, many of them don’t know who she is. Some of the younger (read: inexperienced) queens may be given a little slack for not knowing about Beale, her mother, the Bouvier-Kennedy-Onassis connection, the house, the cats and the raccoons. But for queens like Coco? That’s just sad.

Monsoon is genius in the game, throwing shade in ways that goes right over some of those ladies’ heads.

Gawker has video of the episode, or you can watch the whole thing on OUTtv. And really, you should watch the whole thing.

Journalist, writer, blogger, producer.

Keep Reading

An image of the cover of 'No God but Us' against a zoomed portion of the cover featuring a lit candle and butterflies with eyes on their wings against a black background

‘No God but Us’ delves into the parallel universes created by war and displacement

Bobuq Sayed’s debut novel considers borders and ethics through the eyes of two queer Afghan lovers
Bentley Robles

Bentley Robles wants a brotherhood of gay pop stars

The yellow-haired singer talks rising stardom, Zara Larsson and dating while gay-famous
Vivek Shraya being kissed by a man

Vivek Shraya is hot, blond and hitting the dance floor

The Toronto multi-hyphenate’s new album, “VIVICA,” shirks respectability politics for a sensual, high-gloss exploration of queer and trans desire
Morphine Love Dion, Dawn and Morgan McMichaels

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 11’ plays it safe for the first bracket—until the very last minute

Already, we see the consequences of only two queens moving forward from each bracket to the semifinals
Advertisement