This drag queen had the best response to that racist rant
Drag queen Shangela interrupted her show to address the racist rant by Darryl DePiano that surfaced online this week.
The star revealed that friends and fans had warned her not to perform at iCandy as they were worried for her safety and reputation.
The star defended her decision to perform at the bar, and explained that she wanted to make change.
“I did not appreciate or support it, but let me tell you something, baby: Opportunities come for change and tonight we’re standing on an opportunity of change.”
“When I had the question to perform here tonight, I went to my two inspirations. Number one, RuPaul. RuPaul has been teaching for a long time that if you can’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else?”
“And I have worked on myself. To love myself, to know myself, to accept myself and i’m not perfect, so also to forgive myself. Once you can forgive yourself you can forgive other people.”
She then went on to quote her other inspiration, Jennifer Lewis: “Life is made up of moments and in life you have choices. Now one choice would be to walk away from a bad situation and the other choice is to stand up in that situation.”
“After taking some time to dig deep, I realised that I’m not a person to run from a problem or controversy. I don’t judge anyone that chooses to walk away form this venue. But I want a seat at the table so that I can help implement change.”
“I’m a bitch that wants to make it better.”
Shangela was performing at iCandy and addressed the video before introducing DePianno to the stage so he could make his own apology.
DePiano, who owns the bar, took to the stage to apologise for a video from 2013 that surfaced online this week. In the video DePiano uses slurs of racial insults.
The gay bar owner said: “For those who know me, that’s not really who I am and what I stand for. Unfortunately, I have to take full responsibility for my really poor actions and the really disgusting language that I used.”
“I’m not going to run away, I’m going to stand up and take my lickings and hope that we can all make a change, mostly myself and help the entire community change.”
Patrons were informed that staff at the venue would go through sensitivity training
Watch the full clip here:
