Boston Pride: Drag Race star Jujubee

Back in 2007, when we were still known as Stuff @ Night (and let’s please take note that said era has ended, publicists who continue to email us in a manner that is so last decade), our “Beauty Issue” cover featured a particularly fabulous model with smoky eyes, hot pink lips, and a sultry stare. But there was more to that lovely face than met the eye. Surprise! Inside, a two-page pictorial showed the transformation — with a little bit of eyeliner, a little bit of lipstick, and a whole lot of attitude — of Boston performance artist Airline Inthyrath to his drag queen alter ego, Jujubee.

Three years later, the star power we saw (insert pat on back here) finally got its due on national television. Jujubee recently became a breakout star, fan favorite, and third-place winner on the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a hit show on the MTV-owned, gay-focused LOGO network. To the unfamiliar: think of it as drag culture’s American Idol, but with more camp, more cattiness, and, at least this TV season, more talent (snap!).

Though she’s spent the post-show weeks city-hopping on a Drag Race tour, Jujubee returns to Boston this week for a series of Pride appearances. On Wednesday, June 9, at 9 p.m. she will judge the Pride Idol competition (alongside Drag Race winner Tyra Sanchez) and perform for the crowd at Club Café (209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, 617.536.0966); find more info here. On Thursday, June 10, she’ll be joined by season-one Drag Race contestant Nina Summers to host gay dance party Glamlife at The Estate (1 Boylston Place, Boston, 617.351.7000). Incidentally, that night also includes a special giveaway: a pair of tickets to a VIP Balcony Box for honorary drag queen Lady Gaga’s upcoming Boston concert. And on Sunday, June 13, Jujubee will host the Pride Finale party for Hot Mess Sundays! at Pearl and Underbar (275 Tremont Street, Boston, 617.292.0800). Flowers and STUFF's Boston’s Sexiest starlet Destiny will be on hand to DJ, and Filipina pop star Charice will perform.

Before her homecoming, Jujubee took a minute to chat about Boston Pride, her Drag Race experience, and a new upcoming reality show, Drag U [premiering on LOGO July 19], where she’ll help RuPaul teach women how to rediscover their inner queen.

STUFF: We can’t wait to have you back in Boston for Pride!

I can’t wait to get back! I’ve actually been doing a lot of Prides. Oddly enough, I was in Salt Lake City yesterday. I never realized Utah had such a huge population of gays! Apparently it has [among the] most gays per capita, which surprised me because it’s uber-Mormon. But they were very sweet: a lot of young, open gays.

How are these other Pride celebrations comparing to Boston?

Nothing compares to Boston. We’re the shit! We’re like “the original gay.” Every time I’ve done Boston Pride, I’ve had the best time of my life.

The LGBT scene here seems big enough to keep things interesting, but small enough to feel like a tight community. Don’t you think?

I absolutely agree with you. You see familiar faces all the time. You might not end up talking to all of them, but it’s a big circle of friends.

So when you were in front of RuPaul on Drag Race, what was it like to be standing in front of…

… the supermodel of the world? She’s everything you would expect: talented, gracious — and super duper tall! I was like, “How the fuck do you wear those heels?” The thing is, when I was doing Drag Race, we had a completely different relationship. She was a judge, so we couldn’t chat. But when I did Drag U, we got to know each other so much more — just getting to sit, and have lunch.

It can be a scary experience, meeting your icons. You never know if they’re going to live up to your ideas, you know?

Yes, but she’s so much more than what I expected. I always looked up to RuPaul. Even as a kid, there was always a little drag in me! [Laughs] And I never knew that I would be working with her and then, finally, sitting down over lunch and bullshitting.

As a pop-culture figure, do you think she also played a huge role in showing drag to the mainstream for, in a lot of ways, the first time? 

I think RuPaul is an ambassador for gay people, for drag queens, for our art. People don’t really praise the whole gay thing: they know it’s there, but they ignore it and pull a little cover over it so you don’t really see it. But she’s brings everything out: that we’re here to stay, but that we’re also talented and smart people. And drag is hard work! You try tucking your dick for 15 hours!

And then perform for hundreds of people.

Exactly. I do drag because of the art. But I think in society a lot of people are afraid to do anything girly and feminine.… It’s the whole masculinity [versus] femininity thing. But I think women are super duper powerful, and as a man I should have the power to do it too.

But in Drag U you actually teach women — about being women! What can they learn from drag queens?

In Drag U we teach women that it doesn’t matter what gender you are: who you choose to play is who you choose to be. We take women who are super gorgeous, but something happened in their life: maybe sickness, or the loss of a friend. Then they let themselves go. So we pull out their inner diva. It’s more than a visual thing; it’s an emotional thing that’s really beautiful.

Anyone who watches reality TV wonders how real it really is. Looking at the show, was there anything you thought captured the reality dead-on, or anything that really didn’t ring true?

My role in the competition is exactly what I wanted it to be. I went in saying, “I’m not going to play a part, but I am going to play the fucking game. The stakes are high and I want to win.” Watching the show afterwards, I didn’t see too much of a difference from that. I don’t think it deviated from anyone’s personality. My theory is that an editor can’t not make you look good unless you give them material to make you look bad.

You’re also nominated for a LOGO NewNowNext Award — God, try saying that three times fast — for “Most Addictive Reality Star.” Are you excited? Do you know whether you won yet?

[Laughs] I’m so glad it’s almost over, because I’m so tired of saying it — such a tongue twister! We have rehearsal tomorrow, and then it [the award show] airs on June 17. I wish I did know because it would take so much pressure off what I have to look like tomorrow. I’m as much at a loss as you are. I’m freaking out. I hope I do win, but if I don’t I’m going to be very diplomatic and sweet.

Who do you think is your fiercest competition?

Well, I love Khloe Kardashian, I think she’s a little firecracker. And Johnny Weir is like Lady Gaga. I wish they had put me in a category with one of the Muppets or something.

What do you think is the biggest misconception the mainstream has about drag queens?

What I hear a lot is whether you call [a drag queen] a “he” or a “she.” I think that’s the confusion: they think we all want to be women. And I understand that there are performers who are transgender who perform in drag and all that.… But I look at everyone in the show as actors: we’re playing our part and doing our role.

Now, whenever locals hit it big they have a tendency to leave us. Are you going to be bidding Boston goodbye now?

Never! Honestly, Boston is my home. I’d love to move to LA, but I would miss it too much. I love to travel, though, and I wish I had more than one day or so to get to know these cities beyond the airports and hotel. I wish I could bring everyone with me. I’m having the time of my life.