'Drag Race' Did Edit Out the Queen They Disqualified From Season 12

* RuPaul's Drag Race season 12 has disqualified competitor Sherry Pie for misconduct of a sexual nature but she is still featured in episodic footage.

UPDATED (4/4/2020): As episodes go by, it has become increasingly clear that RuPaul's Drag Race season 12 contestant Sherry Pie has been given a rigorous edit. While the evidence for episode three mistakenly made it online, with some international iTunes fans receiving a version of the show that featured the queen more, so far it has been only assumptions for the episodes that have followed it. On episode six though, there was a Pie-shaped hole on the runway.
For the first time in the history of the show, during the week's runway a competitor was completely cut out. This doesn't mean that Pie was completely absent in the episode -- in "Snatch Game," from the few times she did make it to air, it became clear that she was a standout. The judges later recognized her as one of their tops of the week.

ORIGINAL (3/21/2020): At the start of every episode of RuPaul's Drag Race season 12, since part 2 of the season premiere, the show airs a text card: "In light of recent developments and Sherry Pie's statement, Sherry Pie has been disqualified from RuPaul's Drag Race," it reads. "Out of respect for the hard work of the other queens, VH1 will air the season as planned,.

"Sherry Pie will not appear in the grand finale scheduled to be filmed later this spring."

In the spirit of that message, for our coverage of the season, we have opened every post with a note that alerts readers of the same information. And while some -- read we -- interpreted the message to mean that the season would air in its original edit, that viewers would see the same amount of Sherry Pie as was originally planned. But that is incredibly not what is happening.

After the second episode of the season, Sherry Pie has virtually disappeared from the storylines on the show. Yes, she's very much still in the competition having won the maxi challenge in part three of the premiere, but her Werk Room presence is practically nonexistent and she has no confessional moments. And for those who think: oh well there's so many queens, maybe it's just a fluke. Well, boy do we have something to show you.

On social media, a few have pointed out that for the third episode of the season, those who watch Drag Race internationally on iTunes, got their fair sharing of Pie. Not only did she get confessionals, but she appeared in more shots in general. The always-on-it Reddit fans were able to cull together a side-by-side of the difference. Watch that here.

In the video comparison it's clear that producers went so far as to edit down even some group shots with the competitor in them, as well as cutting out shots that focused on her facial reactions. The reason is simple: this is how we come to know and love our favorite television stars. We see them and relate to their opinions or their nonverbal reactions to the various situations they find themselves in. We turn those reactions and moments into memes and GIFs, and we fall in love.

This week, though we have no conclusive proof yet, it seems they did it again. In addition to Pie not having any confessional spots, and having no lines that don't serve another queen's storyline, in the mini-challenge, Sherry Pie's segment of the Bee Hive Jive is ... extremely abbreviated. And though some have complained that the result makes Pie's wins seem out of nowhere, that's honestly the lack of continuity that we are willing to suffer through given the conundrum we've found ourselves in.

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