RuPaul's DragCon UK is an

fan convention Fan convention (also known as con or fan meeting), a term that predates 1942, is an event in which fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some ...

and expo of drag culture held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, UK. The convention debuted on January 18, 2020. It's based on the successful RuPaul's DragCon LA and NYC, which are related to the popular television show: ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. DragCon markets itself to all people of all ages, its emerging target market is young children, who must attend accompanied by parents. Its secondary revenue is through door tickets and its primary revenue is through photo opportunities taken from customers on the day.

History

2020

After the events of RuPaul's DragCon LA and NYC, they announced another convention which took place at

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series '' RuPaul's Drag Race ...

Michelle Visage Michelle Lynn Case (nee Shupack), better known as Michelle Visage (born September 20, 1968), is an American singer, television host, actress, radio DJ and producer. She first gained recognition as a member of the musical group Seduction which ...

, and the whole cast of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (series 1) will join the convention. The event took place on January 18–19. Unfortunately, on the day of the event, people were waiting outside the venue for over two hours. Without any explanation, the security staff told the ticket holder to come back the next day. Many people were demanding a "Ru-fund" (refund), the hashtag was trending on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and compared the event to Fyre Festival and TanaCon. The official Twitter account of ''RuPaul's DragCon'' explained that the Health and Safety officials advised them to stop the queue due to "health and safety fears". The convention had many panels, such as ''Sibling Rivalry Podcast'', the Netflix series:

AJ and the Queen ''AJ and the Queen'' is an American comedy-drama series, created by RuPaul and Michael Patrick King. It premiered on Netflix on January 10, 2020. It was cancelled after one season in March that same year. Premise ''AJ and the Queen'' follows "Rub ...

, and RuPaul's Drag Race Las Vegas. The venue also had the signature Kid Zone, with

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 event ...

and a kids' fashion show.

2023

In March 2022, RuPaul's DragCon UK announced that the convention is coming back after its indefinite hiatus, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The convention is set to last for three days (January 6–8, 2023), at the Exhibition Centre London with over 80 drag queens attending the events. '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World'' contestants are also joining the convention, such as

Baga Chipz Leo Loren, better known by the stage name Baga Chipz, is an English drag queen known for competing on the RuPaul's Drag Race UK (series 1), first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2019) and later the first season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs ...

, Pangina Heals,

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

, and Mo Heart.

References

{{Drag Race 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom Drag Race (franchise) LGBT events in the United Kingdom Drag events 2020 in LGBT history