Television

Ilona Verley told ‘not to discuss trans agenda’ on Canada’s Drag Race

By Conor Clark

6th September 2021

Ilona Verley has spoken out about not being allowed to discuss the “trans agenda” during their time on Canada’s Drag Race.

Ilona appeared on season one of the Drag Race spin-off, placing sixth in the competition.

On 3 September, their contract with the show expired – meaning they can talk more freely about their appearance on it.

The star has explained that they felt unsupported by the show’s production team and even claims that they were told not to discuss their trans identity.

“I sacrificed everything for a tv show I thought was gonna change my life, I invested into a franchise I thought was going to foster my talent and include me in their “family,” however with the timing of my season I got very little opportunity and ended up a discarded asset,” Ilona wrote on Twitter.

“I received none of the things promised to me when giving up my life for the franchise and had to deal with being limited in being able to provide for myself as my industry as a nightlife entertainer was shut down due to the pandemic and I had to represent the morals of a ‘brand’.”

With season one airing from July to September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the queen said that they wanted to make money via sex work so they could support themselves financially – but alleges that this was forbidden by the production team.

Ilona continued: “I felt like I couldn’t go get a day job because I would look like a failure, I never wanted to be a ‘failed reality tv star’ but the pandemic and not being able to work in my fields made it so hard on me mentally to just survive and figure out what to do to stay a float.”

The queen, who is non-binary and transgender, claims that they were told not to discuss their “trans identity” or the “trans agenda” as this was a storyline allegedly being saved for the American version of the show.

In another tweet, Ilona wrote: “Oh ya they also instructed me not to discuss my trans identity on the show and even after they instructed me not to discuss the trans agenda because they were saving that storyline for the American franchise.”

When a fan questioned this because of prior queens on the US series discussing their own trans identities, Ilona explained that their season was filmed in 2019 – before Gottmik’s appearance on season 13 and Kylie Sonique Love’s victory on All Stars 6.

The season one queens will be back for Canada’s Drag Race Anniversary Extravaganza on 6 September, ahead of the second season launch.

Canada’s Drag Race is yet to comment on Ilona’s claims.