Another RuPaul’s Drag Race premiere, another bittersweet e-Lemon-ation. Despite landing in fifth place on Canada’s Drag Race with two maxi-challenge wins under her belt, Lemon – who recently received viral fame with her Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance-worthy verse on Priyanka’s Come Through – became the first Glamazon Warrior to get the chop on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World.
For their first maxi-challenge in the race to become the first Global Drag Race Superstar, the nine fierce contenders flexed their uniqueness, nerve and talent for a “Royal Command” performance. Although she “got litty and splitty my kitty!” in a lip-sync extravaganza to an original track, which received overwhelmingly positive reviews from fans, Lemon’s routine was deemed “unoriginal” by the panel [insert scoff here] and she faced the first elimination with Holland alum Janey Jacké. “I didn’t feel any warmth at all from the judging panel and it was very, very overwhelming,” Lemon tells GAY TIMES on Zoom.
Following Pangina Heals’ decision to dismiss Lemon from the competition, viewers mourned the star’s shock exit on social media – with some trolls even going as far to inundate the Thailand co-host with “racist remarks and death threats”. Addressing the behaviour of these so-called ‘fans’, Lemon says: “I appreciate that people are upset but it wasn’t Pangina’s fault that, a, I was in the bottom and b, it’s just never that deep. It’s never deep enough to tell someone hurtful things for a drag queen competition on TV.”
Here, we speak with Lemon about the judges’ remarks, her “hilarious” choice for Snatch Game and why “no one on Earth would’ve been prepared” for her C.U.N.T on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World. In the words of a wise rapstress, “Your dad drops stacks on this… and don’t forget it.”
Lemon, it seems like Drag Race season premieres are cursed for you?! What’s going on?
You know what, I may be the queen of the vers but I always bottom first!
Honestly, you didn’t deserve to be anywhere near that bottom two. What did you think when you received those critiques?
Well the gag is, I don’t really think I got that many critiques. They kind of just said nice things with an eye roll. Everything Michelle [Visage] said was like, ‘You know, you do look like a winner.’ Like, yeah, that’s the category of the runway! So, I think it’s hard to understand why they were unimpressed because they didn’t actually say anything bad. They were just like, ‘Oh, someone did that once.’ And I was like, ‘No one’s sang a live song before?’
Yeah, it was all very confusing. When Pangina revealed your lipstick, what was going through your mind?
Honestly, part of me was a little bit relieved. I didn’t feel any warmth at all from the judging panel and it was very, very overwhelming. My season got a bad rep for the judges being a little bit harsh, so I’m used to that. I’m a competitive dancer, I’ve been taking critiques my entire life, I have no problem with being told, ‘Oh this wasn’t perfect, or this could’ve happened,’ blah blah blah But it was hard because it felt like they didn’t like my number at all, they didn’t like my runway at all. They didn’t care about what I was doing, which is totally their prerogative. They’re the judges and we sign up for them to decide, but when Pan pulled my lipstick I kind of thought, ‘Oh wait, I don’t have to hear their opinions again next week!’
You didn’t even get a chance to open a bloody chocolate bar.
Honestly, I think I would’ve been more pissed to open a chocolate bar. That is the shadiest thing they’re doing, it’s so mean!
Earlier in the episode, you revealed that you and Jimbo haven’t been that close since Canada season one. Do you think she would’ve saved you?
I think Jimbo would’ve absolutely had my back. There’s some chit chat and some drama that we had, but Jimbo and I are both very dramatic people. As much as we chat shit, we love each other with our whole hearts. Every time we’re together we have a good time and I really think he thought my number was impressive, and I don’t think anyone else could’ve done what I did.
I mean you slammed your motherfucking kitty into that floor…
I told you! I got litty and splitty my kitty! Honestly, the jump split was so much fun but it really really did scare me. I’ve jumped off a two-foot and jumped off a three-foot, which is the average for a bar and I’ve done that hundreds of times, so this time I really wanted to make sure it was a good gag. So, I got a four-foot box. Standing on top of it I was like, ‘This is the scariest thing ever, I feel like I’m in the Canada season one mini challenge.’
On Twitter, you came to the defence of Pangina Heals after she was inundated with racist remarks and death threats. What do you think needs to be done to combat this hate?
I think one thing that just needs to be said is, in general, it’s never this deep. Also people need to realise, you’re watching what happened to us a year ago! I’ve moved on. I don’t give a fuck no more, sis. Sure, obviously I’m crying. Obviously I’m upset. For a second I was like, ‘That bitch!’ but then she texted me. She wrote me a fucking paragraph saying how incredible it was to watch. I was obsessed with her. Her number was amazing. She looked gorgeous on the runway, and now we’re friends and we’re going to work together in the real world. Hopefully there’s a world tour that we can all go on together. I appreciate that people are upset but it wasn’t Pangina’s fault that, a, I was in the bottom and b, it’s just never that deep. It’s never deep enough to tell someone hurtful things for a drag queen competition on TV.
You are responsible for some of my favourite Drag Race performances of all time, from your impersonation of Jojo Siwa to Miss Fitts and of course, “the only thing you’re fucking… is stupid.” If you advanced further in the competition, what else could we have expected from you?
I can guarantee you that I would’ve won any reading challenge, so the fact they got rid of me beforehand is honestly just a mistake. No one watched Canada’s Drag Race, I don’t think, because I don’t know who would’ve made that executive decision. I was really ready for Snatch Game. I had a hilarious character I was planning to do, I was going to do Tim Gunn from Project Runway. I was really excited. I had a gorgeous little costume, a custom-made wig. The other thing I would say is, no one on earth would’ve been prepared for the runways I brought. I spent a lot of money because I’d been saving it up to do this. When I got on Canada’s Drag Race, I was so excited and I had $12 to my name, and I feel like I turned that season out with some terrible runways. When it came to this I was like, ‘Every single runway, I just want to come out and feel glamorous and expensive and flawless.’ Honestly, looking at the photos I’m going to post this season, I did that!
That runway… It had me. I logged onto BBC Pictures first thing this morning just to download it in high-res.
Well, thank you! I honestly felt like such a princess. I’ve never felt more beautiful. On Canada’s Drag Race, we had a pageant runway and I was a toddler. But, I did always want to have that grown up, glamorous version of Lemon which I’ve never done in my whole life. And in my opinion, it’s the polar opposite to what I do in drag. It was just exciting to get to be the beautiful pageant princess I’d always dreamed of being!
I’m not going to say your elimination is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, but…
Okay, yeah that’s fine. I wouldn’t say it’s the worst thing that ever happened to me! I think, at the end of the day, I cried. I was upset, but the real truth is I’m proud of what I did and I hope Canada is proud of what I did. I made that joke on the runway like, ‘Oh maybe I would’ve changed everything!” but I don’t know if I would’ve because this is the first time I’ve ever been in front of Ru and Michelle and I was like, ‘What do I do?’ And I fucking danced. And I rapped! I could’ve absolutely done a tap dance, I could’ve done an acrobatics routine, I could’ve juggled and hoola-hooped. But I am a dancer and I am a rapper, and that number was cunt.
So, you mentioned rap…
Yes…
“Your dad drops stacks on this and don’t forget it, he tryna find my pussy pics up on Reddit” is is the greatest lyric in pop music history.
You know what, I’ve always loved poetry. They kind of go hand in hand. Rap is just poetry about how iconic and brilliant you are. I’m also a narcissist so we’re just adding on things that I love! Writing Come Through was so fun, because I just wanted every line to be like a really good Instagram caption. That’s what I went for. Every line in that rap I was like, ‘That would be a good caption.’
It’s the drag equivalent of Nicki Minaj’s verse in Monster, in my eyes.
Wow, that’s honestly an honour! “50k for a verse no album out!”
And you haven’t got an album out, so can we expect one this year?
I’m working on a little rap situation but I don’t want to do music for the sake of doing music, so I really just want to make sure everything comes from me and a team of people that I like to work with. I honestly write a verse every single day. They just pop into my head and I write them down and edit them. I feel like eventually, we’ll be able to sit and piece them all together and it’ll be perfect, but I just don’t want to release anything that I’m not so proud of. I’m in no rush, just you wait!
Lemon, promise me that we’re going to do this again when the EP, the album, the mixtape, whatever it is, drops.
Oh absolutely, absolutely! Anytime, babe!
The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World premiere is now available to stream on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer.
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