Star of the FX show, Indya Moore, asked him to “tangibly reciprocate” support from black queer and trans people that look up to him.
May 08 2019 12:38 PM EST
May 26 2023 2:09 PM EST
MikelleStreet
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Star of the FX show, Indya Moore, asked him to “tangibly reciprocate” support from black queer and trans people that look up to him.
There is a lot going on at the Met Gala. There was everything that happened on the red carpet. There were voguers on the main stage. There was Harry Styles singing along to Cher during her headlining performance. It was a busy night! But it was essentially a hell of a lot of celebrities in one space doing a hell of a lot of things. And one of those things was meeting each other!
Indya Moore apparently did a lot of meeting at the event and that makes sense -- it was her first Met Gala. Amongst those that she met was Kim Kardashian-West, with whom she chatted about Kardashian's new courtroom efforts and "heteronormative patriarchy." Apparently, Kim was all for the conversation! But she also chatted with RuPaul Charles, who attended the event in a suit. (For what it's worth, Ru also met Celine Dion who quoted the infamous "don't fuck it up.")
"I got to talk to RuPaul about how much black queer & trans people look up to and for him for his creative influence & how much it would mean to us for that support to be tangibly reciprocated in ways that can impact us by informing his audience about our culture & experiences in ways that aren't just about entertaining them," she wrote to Instagram on Tuesday night. Whew. An ask! And while that could be misconstrued as a pretty large task -- it really isn't but let's go out on a limb and say some might view it as that -- Moore also asked for something a lot more immediate.
"I also asked him to watch Pose!" she revealed. "He said he saw one episode and that he's been super busy to catch up. He's sincerely interested & talking to him made me feel so much hope."
AroundPose, there have been some criticisms of Ru. In June 2018, ahead of the show's debut at a Vogue Knights mini ball in New York, Jack Mizrahi, who is a consultant on Pose and one of the most internationally known ballroom members, kicked it off. "RuPaul has built a legacy on the backs and struggles of this community and trans people of color," he said in a speech according to Into. "But on June 3, we will let the whole world know who we are." The comment juxtaposed Ru's approach of sourcing inspiration from ballroom without really using people from ballroom, from that of Pose's.
As the show aired, writer Ashlee Marie Preston took to Twitter to add to that criticism. "The fact that America is raving about Pose on FX Networks and RuPaul hasn't uttered one word; nor has he let a single thought escape from under that tattered wig -- confirms what the trans community already knew," she wrote. "Folks are gonna be hot over this tweet -- but a truth is a truth." The tweet kicked off a thread of criticism about the lack of acknowledgement but now we know why!
Maybe he'll catch up once it hits Netflix, just in time for season 2.
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Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.
Mikelle is the former editorial director of digital for PrideMedia, guiding digital editorial and social across Out, The Advocate, Pride.com, Out Traveler, and Plus. After starting as a freelancer for Out in 2013, he joined the staff as Senior Editor working across print and digital in 2018. In early 2021 he became Out's digital director, marking a pivot to content that centered queer and trans stories and figures, exclusively. In September 2021, he was promoted to editorial director of PrideMedia. He has written cover stories on Ricky Martin, Miss Fame, Nyle DiMarco, Jeremy O. Harris, Law Roach, and Symone.