Metro Weekly

Fans Demand RuPaul Remove Tyra Sanchez’s Drag Race Title

The Season 2 winner was widely condemned for a tasteless remark attacking The Vivienne over a 5-year-old joke.

Tyra Sanchez - Logo TV
Tyra Sanchez – Logo TV

Several RuPaul’s Drag Race fans are calling on host RuPaul Charles to strip Season 2 winner Tyra Sanchez of her title following nasty remarks she posted on social media.

Sanchez, formerly known as “King Tyra,” whose real name is James Ross, made the comments on January 5, in response to news that The Vivienne, the winner of the inaugural season of Drag Race UK, had died.

The Vivienne, whose real name was James Lee Williams, tragically died at age 32 over the weekend at a residence in Chorlton-by-Backford, England. The cause of death is not yet known. 

Upon hearing the news, Sanchez dragged up a past tweet of The Vivienne’s from 2020 in which the drag queen wrote, “Bet Tyra was fuming when she Realized Netflix Spoiled the win Too. Sorry gal. You Tried though.”

The post appears to reference Netflix using a different drag queen’s photo as the thumbnail for the 2010 season of Drag Race won by Sanchez when the streaming platform began making episodes available outside of the United States.

“Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium,” Sanchez wrote, quote-tweeting the five-year-old post.

The nasty comment received a deluge of criticism from fans of the franchise, who chastised Sanchez for her response, and began to call for RuPaul to strip her of her title for badmouthing a fellow winner after their untimely death. 

Dear @WorldOfWonder, Producers, RuPaul, and to whom it may concern. It’s about time to dethrone Tyra as the Winner of Season 2,” one user wrote. “Please give it to the more worthy queen Raven. Taking out a tweet from 2020 just to say this after your death is inhumane and diabolic.”

“@RuPaul take away Tyra Sanchez’s win now,” wrote another. “The shit she posted had no right to allow her to stay in the hall of fame, she is a disgrace to the planet and to the fandom and you should discard anything related to her as you did Sherry Pie. Letting this slide is a big fuck up.”

Some fans began a Change.org petition urging RuPaul and World of Wonder to strip Sanchez of the title.

In response, Sanchez doubled down, and even mocked people for giving her more publicity by highlighting her comments.

“Calling for a crown/title that I could give two fucks about is stupid,” she wrote. “You’re the only ones caught up in that fairytale. It means absolutely nothing. Y’all been hollering 15min for 15 years. Fuck that crown. Fuck @RuPaul Fuck @RuPaulsDragRace Fuck @WorldOfWonder and fuck you too!” she wrote.

“She’s dead. Rotting. Sending me all the hate in the world won’t bring her back,” Sanchez posted. “But do as you must. Because of you the tweet has reached over 25k individuals. Thanks for the much needed attention that I oh so desperately needed.”

Sanchez continued to make posts referencing The Vivienne’s death, showing an animated version of herself standing alongside a grave bearing the words “Here Lies She Who Came for Me,” with The Vivienne’s birth and death dates, and joked about the type of music she’d play in a crematorium.

Sanchez’s behavior caught the attention of fellow Drag Race alum Kandy Muse, who slammed her for her comments.

“I’ve defended you for years but now you can absolutely go fuck yourself and if our path were to ever cross it’s absolutely on sight bitch,” Kandy wrote on X. “It’s not a threat it’s a promise. you disgusting person.”

Another Drag Race alum, D.C.-based drag queen Tatianna, who competed alongside Sanchez on Season 2, vaguely referenced Sanchez’s behavior, but did not mention her by name or re-post her tweets.

“Y’all better ignore that thing. The more y’all interact with it the more bile it spews. Mute block move on,” wrote Tatianna, whose on-air confrontations with Sanchez for annoying the other queens during Season 2 continue to spawn viral memes and GIFs.

RuPaul, who had mourned The Vivienne’s death in a touching post, appeared to weigh in on the controversy, posting a clip from the Season 2 finale on her Instagram account. The clip features the Emmy-winning reality show host participating in an acting challenge alongside Tyra, slapping her hard across the face.

RuPaul did not caption the video or provide any context surrounding the post, but many fans and former Drag Race competitors interpreted it as a dig at Sanchez.

“Do it again,” responded one user.

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