Drag Race queen apologises for stealing infamous joke
RuPaul. (VH1)
Drag Race Down Under queen Anita Wigl’it apologied after a comedian accused her of stealing his Prince Andrew joke.
Anita Wigl’it stunned fans during the Down Under Snatch Game with her controversial take on the Queen.
As well as joking about Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, Anita took aim at Prince Andrew, telling RuPaul: ““When you turn 100 you get a letter from the queen, when you turn 16 you get a text from Prince Andrew.”
But after the episode aired, comedian Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann claimed the joke as his own, revealing that he had first cracked it last August.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race is the biggest reality TV show in the world,” he said. “My joke has gone global without me.”
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After Lehmo tagged Anita in an instagram post, the New Zealand queen apologised, and explained how a friend had suggested the line to replace something much, much worse.
“Oh no! I do apologise!! When I was doing research for the Queen character I knew that there was something funny about the letter writing,” she wrote.
“Initially I had, ‘Queen sends a letter to celebrate 100 years and Prince Andrew also celebrates birthdays with a sweet 16 kiss… on the vagina.’
“Friends suggested the text. Turns out they had heard it somewhere before!”
Drag Race Down Under censored by the BBC
The Drag Race Down Under Snatch Game was notably censored by the BBC in the UK.
Although the “text from Prince Andrew” joke was left in, the BBC cut another quip from Anita: “I wish a dingo would have taken my baby, then I wouldn’t have anything to do with Prince Andrew any more.”
A BBC spokesperson confirmed they had removed the line, telling the Guardian: “The BBC occasionally makes edits to acquired programmes in accordance with UK audience expectations.”
Notably, the BBC left other jokes in, including one in which Wigl’it’s Queen Elizabeth said her advice to Meghan Markle was “don’t p**s me off – and wear a seatbelt,” referring to Princess Diana’s death in a car accident in 1997.
Anita Wigl’it finished in eighth place in the Austalian and New Zealand spin-off, with her business partner and friend Kita Mean eventually winning the crown.
