Jaida deserved her spot on AS8 the most as she got the short end of the winner’s stick and lost the most amount of money and also the only winner not to get to do her own tour during her winning year. And when the bars finally had opened up again, Symone was just crowned.
COVID isn’t gone just because people aren’t calling it a pandemic anymore. Remember to look after your health AND the health of others around you. ❤️❤️❤️
"The same person who made the soundtrack for AJ & The Queen also made the theme song for the Ellen Degeneres show... so maybe that's why it got cancelled" I spat water out of my mouth
I do think that Season 12 was so well received by fans because subconsciously, they all had a common enemy to hate the entire season: Sh*rry. Brita and Aiden were both gone before the halfway mark, so the whole fandom was able to unite behind one queen it was acceptable to despise. Once they got their fill, they could focus on lifting up everybody else.
@@JalenLeee or people like Brita are just easy to hate. I remember people not liking Carmen Carerra and Delta Werk b/c of how they went out of their way to be shitty to Stacy Lane Matthews and Shangela. Brita was reviled because she picked on people she perceived to be weaker than her.
As much as I love Leslie, I do think she is wayyyyyy to oblivious to the toxicity of the drag race fandom. I wish she knew how powerful her words were, because Brita never deserved all that hate
but that’s the exact reason why her point is so much more important than what these fans say. She cannot tweet without getting hate. Aja just experienced the very same thing after being ASKED by fans to live tweet, and was attacked because she (rightly) criticized Anetra, and not even in a nasty way. These fans cannot fathom the idea of people having their own opinions doesn’t justify the nasty words that come out of their mouths
@@JJ-kd5mxyeah it would be nice if the fandom could calm down and be civil towards contestants on the show and people who express opinions on the show. However we definitely are not there yet; plenty of rpdr contestants have spoken about death threats or suicidal thoughts related to the way drag race fans have treated them online. When it’s that serious it’s reasonable to hope for potentially influential fans to tread lightly, especially when it comes to negative comments about a contestant’s personality instead of simply their performance on the show. I think Leslie was acting just like any other reality tv viewer but those clips were criticising Brita as a person, not just reading her drag, and I wouldn’t be surprised if those videos emboldened certain fans to harass Brita
i swear the exact opposite of this comment was "shes a viewer and a fan of the show therefor leslie can say whatever she wants" and it was the most liked comment in threads that talked about the drama back in 2020. its nice to see things have changed but i wish we couldve been aware before the hate even happened and i think i know who's to blame for that
I want to say this: I don’t ever want to hear “Blame It On The Edit” ever again. If the simplest editing can make a queen disappear from a season, imagine the hate, bullying, and nastyness that could have been prevented if a queens’ worst moments were not the only thing that ever makes it to air. And if someone says “the show can’t just edit someone for a whole season”, just drag out Season 12.
Regardless of her actions in the show, the fact that Brita had such major struggles with mental health brought on by harassment from “fans” to the point that she overdosed in an attempt will always horrify me
I feel so much for Veronica Green... It was almost cruel showing us how much she struggled during the pandemic and how hard was for her not being able to return... And when she finally returned, she gets sent home unceremoniously on episode 3, because production had already picked their favorites. It really got me thinking about supporting the show.
especially after the H&M debacle! The UK queens don't even get a cash prize at the end, so why should they spend a fortune on their looks?! I've been watching it air live since season 4 but the pandemic was actually when I stopped lmao
ESPECIALLY because they win ZERO money for competing on UK. Not only did she spend so much money on her first season, she was expected to recoup that money and have enough to compete AGAIN with the bar scene being shut down for over a year. It was so sad
@@johnotero7714 Girl they do get paid to be on the show. It's not much but let's not say that they win ZERO money bc that's deceiving, we can criticize the show while being honest
@@mrT1PP1 they don't have a grand prize for winning. The little bit of money they get per episode is, in America at least, like 100/episode they were on. ONCE. And this season was 200k to the winner and nothing to the runner up. Which I thought was weird after last season. Uk drag race has no grand prize, and there's no money given away for winning a maxi challenge like the 5k/ episode like on US seasons.
@@mrT1PP1 no, they don't get any money in the UK. There's some law preventing them to win any money. It's totally messed up because they spend so much money to be there.
At the time of season 12's premiere, I was dating someone who actually knew Sherry Pie. She was a kid when Sherry worked at a broadway themed summer camp. I wasn't following any of the drama linked with Rupaul's yet so I had no idea what was happening with her disqualification. I sat with my girlfriend and her family for the premiere as they were all excited to see how well Sherry was going to do. When that title card explaining her disqualification came up, the room went DEAD. One of the most uncomfortable moments in my life and definitely the most prominent memory I have from this season
Leslie saying that people can't take someone being shady and unfiltered as entertainment, while complaining about someone (as portrayed by the show) being shady for her entertainment truly sent me
I was the fan who tuned in during the pandemic the first time. I watched all of season 11 whole waiting for season 12 episodes every week and quickly became obsessed. I'm all caught up and even into the international seasons. I always wanted to get into drag race but never had time. So the pandemic allowed that time for me.
Exact same story with me lol, I’m now obsessed with this show I remember I thought rock was gonna be a finalist as I saw a Reddit post of her purple look. I presumed she HAD to reach that runway if someone posted it lol. Even when she was eliminated I presumed she had to return somehow lol
@@cameronKilcoyne me too! I was also in a group of some fans and wey did runways, that and season 12 made me survive in the fracking Cov ID quarentine
just a correction about Cherry’s job title, she wasnt a support worker shes was a registered mental health nurse, the equivalent in the US is a psych RN. We just specialise before becoming an RN in the UK compared to US/Canadian nurses who specialise after their study :)
I know Brita wasn't a saint but Leslie went way overboard with her commentary and I'm not surprised Brita would be upset. Leslie called her shady and a bully over an edited version of the show all while while using her platform to publicly declare her dislike towards Brita. There are things people just shouldn't do
exactly this. if some random dude was mean online, it has nowhere near the same impact as someone with as big a following as she does. its like comparing the effects of a slingshot and a bazooka.
Yeah it was super bizarre listening to the audio of Leslie going off about Brita. Cuz firstly girl why u care so much?? Famous comedian going on and on about reality show contestants.
I wanna know what so many Queens have to say about that because some of them are apart of the NYC scene and if they feel eerie about it knowing they were talking to a Predator the whole time and not know it
The Leslie Jones stuff really upset me, bc it reinforced the whole idea that the highly edited show is a true representation of the queens’ entire personality. Plus, Leslie’s position as a tenured SNL cast member felt a lot like punching down against the far less “respected” career of drag over all
and despite everything s12 and uk2 are considered two of the best seasons of the whole franchise. the amount of work these queens could've gotten had the pandemic never happened is crazy.
I do feel like Ru chilled out and let down her walls so much during and after the pandemic. We see so much more of her personality rather than an image of poised perfection and I really feel like its what the franchise needed.
I believe what Leslie did was very negligent. It's one thing to live tweet to your 50 twt followers and another when you're LESLIE FUCKING JONES. She had a responsibility and she failed. She might've been a "new fan" at the time, but it still doesn't mean you shouldn't filter what you're saying, especially if you're a celebrity. Leslie was being a bully in that moment, whether she wants to admit it or not
Leslie was doing the same thing she was accusing Brita of doing... Being shady. It doesn't matter if you're in a competition or on a zoom call, shady is shady.
It’s sad, because Jaida is my favorite winner. I love a queen who is a goofy sweetheart, and Jaida is truly the goofiest. She is extremely talented, and adorable.
I felt so bad for Cherry when she didn’t get any votes. I’m sure being a frontline worker was so hard and then to not even be considered… rest in peace ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Man I'm still so sad about cherry valentine. I still wonder how she passed, but that's the family's business. It's also so messed up what happened to Veronica. She had just spent a ton of money to be on the season, then had to go home because of Covid, & wasn't able to work at all. She then was expected to go right into the next season with all new fashions, but had no money, or way of getting anything up to their standards. It's ridiculous how much money they expect these girls to spend on their looks. Veronica deserved better. 💚
About Cherry, the cause of death was by suicide.. her taking care of people as a frontline nurse and inspiring/captivating so many others through her artform, despite all of her inner struggles, just goes to show how much of a kind soul she was..
She got more hate than Sherry sometimes, it was sick. She wasn't even wrong about Aiden either lmao, I'd be fuming if someone made that shit outfit, napped and then was safe too lmao
@@evehoughton7634 why would you be mad at the person the judges picked? You have no right to be mad at the person picked, and neither did Brita. She is an old enough man to have found a way to get her little boy emotions under control.
Just started the video & as soon as you reference the pandemic we see 4 queens wearing masks while Gia is the only one who's not. Oh how i love the sudelty 😂 also I'm so early
jesus christ I can't believe it's already been 3 years since the pandemic began, It felt like just yesterday we were watching Jaida win S12 over a zoom call and now there's already been 2 (soon to be 3) main US season winners since then
The entire S.P. incident is the reason why I feel like season 12 was so awkward to watch as you could tell huge chunks of the episodes after the split premiere were missing and that we weren’t getting the entire story. It’s not the editors’ fault as they had to do last minute editing.
Season 12 is the season that got me back into drag race. I would say it is my favorite season. There was not one bad queen on the cast… well except [REDACTED]
I reaaalllly dislike [REDACTED] because she was doing good and I really enjoyed her drag... And then [REDACTED] turned out to be a less than great person :(
My experience was reconnecting with RPDR. My first contact with it was S02 (was 15 y/o) and i fell in love as a young bi girl watching with her gay best friend lol. Made me binge all seasons that were available up until seeing season 8 while it was airing. Than i got saturated for various reasons and stopped watching for years up until season 15 got my attention because of the amazing Sasha Colby. So i was like "i really need to binge 9-14 before the premiere". Aaaand i fell in love with it all over again, especially with seasons 9 and 12 (excluding the 🍒🥧 thing ofc). PS: Gigi is amazing but so is Jaida!!! Can't believe anyone would speak ill of her.
Leslie Jordan was ultimately 100% in the wrong. As someone in the industry she should understand that what you see on "reality tv" is not always the truth. I can understand her going in and talking about her feelings while live tweeting the episodes, but once people started calling her out, and she doubled down? No. The fan base of Drag Race already has a ton of toxic behaviour and she became one of those toxic fans that perpetrated the hate that not only Britta got, but any Queen that gets hate online. I don' t think it would compromise her comedy to look at things from all sides and not fan a fire.
this video took longer than 30 minutes and you didn't mention the biggest change the pandemic brought to the franchise: the space between judges on the judges panel xD
Season 12 was such a crutch for me. The day before the UK shut down my nan, who I was a live-in carer for, went into hospital for an unrelated lung problem. She died because of this on 7th April 2020. I was only 18 at this point and lost in the world without her. Season 12 gave me something to cling to, lose myself in, and root for. I've struggled with my mental health since I was a pre-teen and I can honestly say that if I wasn't invested in season 12 and the drag race community wasn't so engaging I might not even be here. I'm happy to see that season 12, and the queens, are getting love right now
Rest in Power sweet Cherry Valentine. I was rooting for you the whole time on your season because your drag, personality and your kindness really spoke to me. The world is less sparkly and bright without you in it 😥🍒👑🏳🌈🫶🏾🇦🇺🖤
Honestly, it's mostly the amount of tweets Leslie Jones did and how much she repeats the same things. Live tweeting is fine, but you need to be self-aware enough to not turn into a bully, which is very easy if you're in the moment. I think she didn't handle it in the most mature way.
AJ and The Queen was such a good show! However, the first couple episodes were hard to watch. The little girl was so unlikable. But, if you could make it to episode 4, you were hooked. It just got better and better. Sad we didn’t get a 2nd season.
I actually got into to drag race in quarantine because I got into unhhhhhhh And then I started getting recommended drag race videos and then I started watching drag race its something I’m super grateful for and honestly something that got me through the harder days of quarantine
I appreciate you for not shying away from using names. I know it’s such a simple little thing, but I can’t stand watching Drag Race content on RU-vid and the creators refuse to say a drag queen’s name. I don’t condone the actions of Sherry Pie, but being afraid to say her name out loud is just no way to address her behavior.
Thank you for filming this. It brings back awful memories of RPDR during the pandemic and personal stuff that occurred then. My last great memories was attending the first UK Dragcon❤
Literally I started binging drag race from season one THIS YEAR! I think I started in February 2023. I knew it wasn’t necessary to become a fan, but I wanted to see how the show developed and evolved over years, and I wanted to be IN on all the inside jokes! I’m 24 and grew up in a pretty conservative town, but I’m non-binary and absolutely love drag, and this show has been absolutely amazing!
I haven't seen Jaida's season before All Winners, but I freakin LOVED her during AS7 and I felt so bad for her run as the winning queen. I'm glad she had another chance to showcase herself.
Season 12 was honestly what kept me alive during the whole of 2020. I was severely depressed, but drag race had brought me so much comfort since season 9 in 2017. I would look forward to each week during lockdown and that was something I’m so thankful for looking back on it now, seeing how the pandemic changed the world forever. Jaida is forever one of my favorite winners and I send her nothing but love ❤❤❤
Okay I know this is a sensitive topic, but when you talk about queens who faced health issues during the pandemic, I really missed a part dedicated to mention the late ChiChi DeVaine, who was tragically a victim of overload in hospitalizations during pandemic times.
Leslie being a guest judge that very season should have not been so hard on Brita. Idk it feels like a conflict of interest I know it’s not since she was a one time judge early in, but something about it feels so wrong to treat a contestant that harshly after being a part of the production.
11:40 Leslie Jones really disappointed me regarding this... She said she hates bullies.... But what was she doing?? She literally got her fans and followers to attack Brita... so I don’t understand why the way Brita chose to treat Aiden is any different than how she chose to attack Brita... It was so heartbreaking...
You really put into perspective how much the season 12 queens had to go through. Which makes it even more applaudable that they created one of the best seasons of drag race to date
still don't understand how jaida got "read" for winning over zoom on all winners. like? how is it her fault that the finale happened during lockdowns? considering the circumstances how else was she to be crowned? tho admittedly, that bit with yvie handing over a clipart crown was very silly. but considering how winners have been being crowned in their performance looks in the lsftc format, jaida had one of the fiercest crowning looks.
I wish that season 12 aired before or after the pandemic. I honestly think it would have been in the top 5 seasons of all time, but the odds were really stacked against it. You have a queen who I won't name because I don't want to give them any sort publicity (as I act like more than fifty people will see this), you have the unfortunate fact of the zoom finale, as it really killed the energy, and Imagine if the top three had live performances! I mean Jaida is Jaida, she could stand there and do nothing or tell me I suck and I would praise her and call it high art and talent. Crystal would give such a unique performance, and Gigi would give us gag worthy fashion then flip it on it's head... But Jaida and Yvie suffered the most in my opinion, as Yvie would have turned it out on that live stage (not that the socks weren't a slay, and Jaida missed out on the post crowning career rush. But worst of all was Rupaul's finale fashion crimes. But the season had such a talented cast, amazing challenges, just pretend worlds worst didn't exist, the Face Crack of the century, one of the funniest and most unappreciated first exits (it was so good I have nothing to say). And this will make me sound like a needy influencer but... LOOK OVER THERE... at the like button. (P.S, I love you GreenGay, your content just covers all the tea I don't have the energy to actually read about and gives light to underrated queens like Stacey Layne Mathews) Sorry for the essay :)
I've been watching Drag Race (as it was airing) since it's LOGO days. I'm having a really hard time getting into the current season of Drag Race...and couldn't figure out why. I think your video answered my question. The pandemic changed Drag Race, as it changed a lot of things. Thank you for showcasing how resilient Drag Race and subsequently drag the art form is. :) I really enjoyed this video, and all your work. Keep it up and thank you!
Netflix uploaded all the seasons and we could see the episodes live, in my country. Season 12 was the first one I saw, and let me tell you this queens were so good all of them. And then seeing all the other seasons, season 12 holds up with some of my favorites. Jaida Essence Hall is one of my favorite queens, and she was my winner after that lip sync, I mean my girl had like to do all that choreography in like 1 square meter.
Jaida is one of my favorite winners. I started binging Drag Race from S2 when S12 was announced. Jaida's win brought me so much joy during the pandemic and I loved watching her win from her living room while I cheered her on in mine. I love her so much and am so happy that she won, she absolutely deserved it!
