Gottmik Weighs in on Drag Race's First Straight, Cisgender Male Queen

RuPaul's Drag Racejust recently announced the cast for its upcoming 14th season, and as per usual, the show is turning heads! For the first time ever, the Emmy-winning reality drag competition series will include a straight, cisgender male contestant named Maddy Morphosis!

Drag Race season 13 alum and fan-favorite Gottmik, who was the first trans male contestant on the show, weighed in on the big news, which has received various backlash thus far.

At the 47th People's Choice Awards on Tuesday night, she shared with Variety that she could relate to what Morphosis was going through.

"When I first got announced on the show, I was flooded with people who did not think I should be on the show or I shouldn't be doing drag," Gottmik recalled.

But she wants to set something straight: "Drag is for everyone."

"It's an art form," she continued. "It's not about your identity."

According to Gottmik, "as long as she [Maddy Morphosis] knows where drag came from and the references and just the background of the sacred form that drag truly is, she's gonna be fine."

Earlier this week, Maddy responded to the public's criticism on Twitter, sharing that drag has been a "safe space" for her.

"Doing drag the last five years has given me the opportunity to further explore my own identity and also understand more about others," she wrote in an emotional open letter on her social media.

"I think one of the best things to come out of my casting is that it's kicking up a lot more talk about representation in the drag scene," Maddy added. "I hope that it helps lead to more marginalized groups being showcased and represented."

RuPaul's Drag Race returns for Season 14 on January 7 at 8pm on VH1.

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