Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the Emmy-winning powerhouse producers behind RuPaul’s Drag Race, denounced the recent spate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation—particularly bills that restrict or ban drag shows—as part of an “insidious,” “un-American” campaign of hatred. “We may think that Trump is no longer in office, but the wave he rode is part of this continuing wave, which is this fear of the future,” Bailey told Variety on Wednesday. The pair’s comments come days after Drag Race legend Trixie Mattel took to YouTube on Monday to address the passage of such legislation in Tennessee. “Right now in Tennessee, I can get a gun and carry it around in public, but I can’t put on a fucking wig,” she said. “On my second offense of doing drag in Tennessee, I could become a felon. A felon! As a white, rich drag queen, that scares me. How do you think that people of color and trans women, and trans women and people of color who do drag feel? They might not get a second chance because police do not treat those people the same.”
