Nyaww.
During a Roscoe's Tavern viewing party last month, Naysha Lopez and Vanessa Vanjie talked about existing allegations that a certain drag queen cast on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 8 had dropped out of the competition after being paid a stipend — allegedly ghosting producers before filming started. This led certain Drag Race fans to theorize that the queen in question could've been season 11 star Ariel Versace.
On Monday, July 1, Ariel shared an Instagram story strongly denying that speculation and clapping back at fans who were attaching her name to that situation. The season 11 star wrote:
"Twitter is wild you guys [laugh emojis]. That's why I barely use it anymore; it's a cesspool for rumors and random drama. I just caught wind that there is some rumor I was cast on All Stars 8 (I wasn't) and then dropped out and stole the stipend for costumes? HUH!?!? [laugh emojis]."
She added, "That would one, never be able to happen; and two, I work my ass off daily doing gigs and running my hair business for my own money honey. Why do people believe everything they read on the internet? It's mind boggling. Anyway… [kiss emojis]."
Instagram (@arielversace)
Ariel competed in season 11 of Drag Race and went home in the fifth episode after lip syncing against Shuga Cain to "I'm Your Baby Tonight" by Whitney Houston. Since her elimination, Ariel has appeared in certain lists of speculated queens for All Stars seasons. According to this statement, however, Ariel says that she did not cash in a stipend for All Stars 8 and ghosted producers prior to filming.
Ariel still works as a drag queen and has nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram. There are also performances done out-of-drag for certain events, as documented via the alt Instagram @bryanphilippp. Ariel's out-of-drag presentation, Bryan, also maintains an active OnlyFans page.
This is another case of she said, she said in Mama Ru's queendom, and that's the that on that!
Watch the full Roscoe's Tavern viewing party video where Naysha Lopez and Vanessa Vanjie had this discussion below.
