RuPaul’s Drag Race UK queen Baga Chipz wants you to know she’s ‘not a Tory’
Baga Chipz has defended her political views. (BBC)
It didn’t take long for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK to find its first conflama, with some fans turning on Baga Chipz just hours after she was announced as part of the line-up.
Baga Chipz was forced to defend herself after it emerged she authored a pro-Tory op-ed ahead of the 2017 general election.
Writing for Boyz magazine, the 29-year-old comedy queen praised then-Prime Minister Theresa May for “working with communities up and down the country to keep us safe and to promote tolerance”.
She said that May had “proved to be a capable politician, always on the ball and never at risk of having a ‘Diane Abbott’ moment”.
“As a member of the LGBTQI community, I often get asked about Theresa May’s voting record on gay rights, and I understand the concerns” she continued.
“But just as Hillary Clinton changed her stance, so has Mrs May. Not only has she voted for every LGBT reform in parliament in the last decade but she was instrumental in pushing marriage equality.”
I hope the other girls ask her about Theresa May’s hostile environment for LGBT foreign nationals in the work room ??☕️ https://t.co/RgNCa6ek6v
— Shaun (@OhShaun) August 21, 2019
You can just tell Baga Chipz is going to do Theresa May or Maggie Thatcher for Snatch Game. #DragRaceUK pic.twitter.com/twwZHEX9cm
— Joshua Zitser (@mrjoshz) August 21, 2019
After a brief Twitter backlash, Baga set the record straight.
“I am not a Tory, I’m actually a lifelong Labour supporter.” she wrote, explaining that she supported May because she isn’t a fan of Jeremy Corbyn.
“[It] was 4 years ago hun, one is allowed to change ones views [sic].”
I am not a Tory. I’m actually a lifelong labour supporter. I supported Theresa May in the last election as I’m not a fan of Jeremy Corbyn.. was 4 years ago hun.. one is allowed to change ones views.
— Baga Chipz MBE (@ChipShopBird) August 21, 2019
In her 2017 article, Baga singled out Corbyn for his “record on antisemitism, his support for the IRA and homophobic terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, his support for brutal dictatorships in Venezuela and Cuba”.
Now, she says that she would back the Liberal Democrats because she “would never vote for Boris”.
Baga Chipz ready for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
Baga is one of ten queens taking part in the eagerly-anticipated RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
She will compete against queens including Cheryl Hole, an Essex-based Cheryl Cole impersonator, Divina De Campo, who has previously appeared on The Voice and All Together Now, and Vinegar Strokes, a West End performer.
Ahead of her werk room debut, Baga said: “I feel like I’m dreaming, I feel so privileged to be on this programme, to be picked by Ru.”
When asked how she thought fans would react to her drag, she said: “I think it will be a facial reaction. They’ll be speechless, or maybe utter one word: ‘Trollop.’ I’ll never be famous, I’ll be infamous. Notorious Baga.”
