Arts & Entertainment
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ reveals season 11 cast
Miss Vanjie returns
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” has
Olympian Adam Rippon and “Drag Race” season 10 winner Aquaria introduced the queens on Thursday in a two-hour live stream video.
This season there will be 15 queens competing to become America’s Next Drag Superstar because Vanessa Vanjie Mateo is returning. Miss Vanjie became a meme when on her season 10 departure she simply repeated her name while exiting the stage.
The newbies include A’keria Chanel Davenport, Ariel Versace, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Honey Davenport, Kahanna Montrese, Mercedes Iman Diamond, Nina West, Plastique Tiara, Ra’jah O’Hara, Scarlet Envy, Shuga Cane, Silky Nutmeg Ganache, Soju and Yvie Oddly.
However, the big announcement did not include a premiere date for the new season. It’s expected to air sometime this spring.
Meet the queens below.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)