Anyone hoping that RuPaul and the cast of Drag Race season 12 would actually address the Sherrie Pie situation during the reunion will be sadly disappointed.
On Friday night, the season 12 cast embraced their reputation for being one of the first RuPaul’s Best Friends Race in the history of the series. RuPaul gathered the queens for a slumber party where they gabbed about the season and addressed the few moments of drama.
They referenced Sherrie Pie precisely twice — once in the opening song inspired by The Brady Bunch and another time when a contestant mocked another for coming in 13th in a season of only 12 queens.
But not once was Sherrie’s name actually spoken.
It speaks to the overall theme of the season, which was to try and erase any proof that Sherrie was ever cast on the show.
Following the first episode, the producers tried harder and harder to cut Sherrie from the show — they eliminated all confessionals and gave her as little screentime as possible. By the end, they almost seemed to have pulled it off.
In fact, the only time they addressed the Sherrie incident was via a placard, which first appeared at the beginning of each episode and was later moved to after the credits, that condemned Sherrie’s actions and said they would air the show anyways to honor the hard work the other queens had put in.
But refusing to face the Sherrie Pie situation head-on during the reunion was a huge mistake. Because as much as the producers would like us to forget about Sherrie, the truth is that Drag Race season 12 will always be remembered as “the one with Sherrie Pie.”
Sherrie has forever tainted the season and the queens deserved the chance to air their grievances and feelings. Many of the queens who appear on Drag Race try out numerous times and work hard for years in the hopes that they will get an opportunity like this. And now that they finally do, they end up on a season with a pervy predator.
I would be mad — wouldn’t you be?
On top of that, RuPaul should have taken the time to personally condemn Sherrie’s actions (in case you forgot, she catfished numerous men into doing humiliating things on camera under the premise that it was for a casting director). What she did was despicable and Ru needed to take a stand and say something. Because the placard wasn’t enough.
What Sherrie did could have also been a great opportunity for the queens to talk about the prevalence of catfishing in the LGBTQ community — particularly on dating apps. This could have opened up a whole dialogue about a very serious issue.
But instead, RuPaul acted like Sherrie Pie never existed, hoping that we would forget that she ever existed as well.
Wrong move, Ru.
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