Jayde Adams

Iconic US reality show ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ is getting a UK version on BBC3 next year. But who cares? Comedian and scene doyenne Jayde Adams thinks London’s hard-working drag queens deserve way more celebration instead... When I heard that ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ was being adapted for the UK, my first thought was: is an American TV show really going to understand why a drag queen called Karen From Finance is funny? When it comes to drag, America and the UK are very different places.  In London, drag is punk, babes. During the punk era of the ’70s and early ’80s, bands like The Buzzcocks and The Clash, and fashion queen Vivienne Westwood took on the mainstream armed with their own attitude and creativity. I think drag is the punk of today. Drag represents a total freedom of expression, born as a rejection of an era where singers like Freddie Mercury, Elton John and George Michael couldn’t even let on that they were gay. Like punk rock, you could say that London’s scene was born in NYC too: it’s where drag star Jonny Woo trained in the early 2000s, meeting Lavinia Co-op in the process and starting his journey to London as one of the most prolific drag queens in the UK. He inspired the likes of Taylor Mac, Bourgeois & Maurice, Dickie Beau (who is in Queen biopic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ playing Kenny Everett) and myself. I don’t think it’s too bold a statement to say that Jonny Woo started the east London drag scene and helped each and every one of us.  My issue with ‘RuPaul’s Drag Rac