RuPaul's DragCon UK is a multi-genre entertainment convention held annually at the Exhibition Centre London located in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. The two-day event primarily features prominent

drag performer Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves cross-dressing. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininely and a drag ...

s for executives, fanatics, and online brands. This marks the third edition of RuPaul's DragCon, co-produced by American drag queen

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

and World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey, and Randy Barbato. The first event took place on 18 January 2020 at the

Olympia Exhibition Centre Olympia Events, formerly known as Olympia London and sometimes referred to as the Olympia Exhibition Centre, is an exhibition centre, event space and conference centre in West Kensington, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Lond ...

, which was met with negative criticism for opening day. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...

, the convention was an indefinite hiatus until 2023 where it would resume normally at different venue.

History

2019–2020: Olympia Exhibition Centre

During the annual entertainment convention

RuPaul's DragCon NYC RuPaul's DragCon NYC is an annual fan convention and expo of drag culture held in New York City, which debuted in September 2017. It is based on the successful RuPaul's DragCon LA which was launched in Los Angeles in 2015 billed as a “conventi ...

in September 2019, a third edition of the exhibition taking place in the United Kingdom was announced. The contestants from reality competition series ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' (2019), will appear alongside television personalities

and

Michelle Visage Michelle Visage (born Michelle Lynn Shupack, September 20, 1968) is an American television personality, singer, broadcaster, producer, and actress. She gained recognition as a member of the dance-pop group Seduction (group), Seduction, who char ...

. This expansion led the American franchise to be often credited as

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

for its drag entertainment success, including in the United Kingdom. Tickets went on pre-sale on 10 September, followed by the general ticket sale three days later, via

Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Ente ...

. Two months later, various alumni contestants from the ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' franchise, notable locals Joseph Harwood, Harnaam Kaur, and the late internet personality Sophie Anderson of

the Cock Destroyers The Cock Destroyers were a pornographic double act comprising Rebecca More and Sophie Anderson. After meeting at a British porn awards show, the pair set up a joint OnlyFans account featuring niche porn films. In October 2018, the pair uploade ...

are included in the lineup. The convention took place on 18 January 2020 at the

located in

, England. RuPaul and Visage had a

ribbon-cutting ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

and featured a pink carpet where drag performs gotten a chance to walk through the venue. Meanwhile, reports were made that many people were queuing outside the venue for approximately two hours. Without any explanation, security personnel told ticket holders to come back the next day. This resulted many people demanding for refunds and compared the event to

Fyre Festival Fyre Festival was a luxury music festival organized by American businessman Billy McFarland and American rapper Ja Rule. It was originally created to promote the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take pl ...

and

TanaCon Tana Marie Mongeau ( ; born June 24, 1998) is an American internet personality. She is known to make "storytime" videos and similar content posted to her YouTube channel. Early life Tana Mongeau was born on June 24, 1998, to Rick and Rebecca M ...

on X (formerly Twitter). An official statement from the organizers explained the queue was stopped due to the venue's maximum capacity which raised "health and safety fears." The next day, the venue opereted normally and refunds were issued for ticket holders. Many panel conferences featured the concert residency

RuPaul's Drag Race Live! RuPaul's Drag Race Live is a concert residency featuring several past competitors from the television series of the same name and its franchise. The performances are held every weeknight at the Flamingo Showroom and co-produced by Voss Event ...

, webseries '' Fashion Photo RuView'', and live audience podcast ''Sibling Rivalry''; a

play area A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...

was made available for a younger audience that included

Drag Queen Story Hour Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH), Drag Queen Storytime, Drag Story Time, and Drag Story Hour are children's events first started in 2015 by author and activist Michelle Tea in San Francisco with the goals of promoting reading and diversity. The even ...

. During the event, the founders of World of Wonder made an announcement of greenlighting two docuseries named '' God Shave the Queens'' (2020–2022) and an untitled

Trinity the Tuck Ryan A. Taylor, known professionally as Trinity "The Tuck" Taylor or just Trinity the Tuck (born December 10, 1984),Taylor in is an American drag queen, television personality, and recording artist best known for having competed on the ninth se ...

pagentry project. Singer-songwriters

FKA Twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. She was a backup dancer for numerous musicians, and made her musica ...

and

Matty Healy Matthew Timothy Healy (born 8 April 1989) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the pop rock band the 1975. He is recognised for his Lyricist, lyricism, Eclecticism in music, ...

attended the convention in support for actress

Denise Welch Jacqueline Denise Welch (born 22 May 1958) is an English actress, television personality, writer and broadcaster. Her roles include Natalie Barnes in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (1997–2000), Steph Haydock in '' Waterloo Road' ...

, who was an emcee for a panel. After its inaugural event, no further plans about their second installment was announced. Two months later, it was first reported by ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' that its annual Los Angeles convention is cancelled amid the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. The triad locations were combined into a two-day online event that was made available to stream through

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

2023–present: Exhibition Centre London

Two years later, the production company announced in March that the convention will make a comeback after its indefinite hiatus in the next upcoming year. The second iteration is set to take place at the Exhibition Centre London for three days. General tickets went on sale on 15 May 2022. Half of the contestants from the first series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World'' (2022) confirmed their appearances; soon after eighty drag performers will attend the event. Cherry Valentine, a previous contestant for ''

'' (2021), who was scheduled to appear the three-day event, died on 18 September 2022. The organisers of RuPaul's DragCon UK announced that a

condolence book A condolence book or book of condolence is a book in which people may record their condolences following a death or great tragedy. Following the death of a leading figure or great disaster, condolence books are placed in public places for member ...

would be dedicated to Cherry Valentine. Two months later, the line-up was fully shown including various contestants from the ''Drag Race'' franchise worldwide; notable locals Juno Birch, Yshee Black, and Louis Cyfer are also set to appear with three contestants from reality competition series ''

The Traitors ''The Traitors'' is a reality game show franchise created by the All3Media All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London. The All3Media group cons ...

'' (2022). The characters of children's television series ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on t ...

'' were featured to perform and sponsored the event. American footwear company

Crocs Crocs, Inc. is an American footwear company based in Broomfield, Colorado. It manufactures and markets the Crocs brand of foam footwear. Crocs, Inc. terms these "clogs," but they do not contain wood like traditional clogs. History 2002–20 ...

also promoted the event and had visitors the opportunity to purchase customized Jibbitz charms.

Criticism

Andy Duke for cultural website ''

Louder Than War ''Louder Than War'' is a music and culture website and magazine focusing on mainly alternative arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication that was started by the English musician and journalist John R ...

'' named the inaugurated convention as a discovery for drag entertainment as "an extension of punk" and "empowerment were the key messages of the event." Duke saw the production design depicting the American documentary film '' Paris is Burning'' (1990). Although it received negative publicity for opening day, the exhibition "felt like a holiday away from the harsh daylight reality of the real world." Seeing the sponsorship from Crocs for the upcoming convention, conservative news ''

Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative news magazine based in Washington, D.C., consisting of a website and a weekly printed magazine. It is owned by Philip Anschutz through MediaDC, a subsidiar ...

'' reported American citizens were burning the company's merchandise. Soon after, the footwear company "allegedly" and quietly pulled out their partnership on 5 January 2023, a day before the event. Drag performer

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

took the opportunity and accused the company for their

rainbow capitalism Rainbow capitalism (also called pink capitalism, queer capitalism, homocapitalismThe Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' sees the event getting its "advancement and growth in popularity" with having sense in the community and providing "another world where everyone is celebrated for expressing who they want to be and how they want to show it." Findler showed the positive side of involving children in the event where they enjoyed the costume design and the humour coming from the British reality series.

References

External links