Drag Race star Amanda Tori Meating slams ‘short-sighted’ joke in latest episode
Amanda Tori Meating has responded to a joke about her makeup. (YouTube/RuPaul’s Drag Race)
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Amanda Tori Meating has responded to a “short-sighted” joke about her in the most recent episode of season 16.
In episode 11, entitled “Corporate Queens”, the remaining seven contestants were tasked with creating and delivering a seminar in front of a live audience to mark “Drag Awareness Day”.
In Sapphira Cristál, Morphine Love Dion and Nymphia Wind’s presentation, the trio shared a joke about “365 drag queens” being “born every Halloween”.
On the screen behind them appeared three photos of people in amateur drag, as well as a photo of fellow season 16 queen Amanda Tori Meating from when she entered the werk room. In response, Nymphia quipped that the photos were “ghastly”.
Amanda, 27, left the competition in episode five after failing to impress the judges during the girl group challenge.
During her time on the show, she was challenged on her makeup and looks by the judges and by contestant Plane Jane, while fans also turned her episode one outfit – for which her whole face was painted purple – into a meme.
Amanda appeared to be on board with the jokes at her expense at first, having changed her social media profile photo to an image of her purple painted mug.
Yet it seems the joke in Sapphira, Morphine and Nymphia’s presentation was a step too far for the queen.
In a post on X/Twitter after the most recent episode aired (16 March), Amanda said that she felt her talent was being “overshadowed” by the makeup jokes.
“I think what’s frustrated me is I went to Drag Race really excited to showcase my art and on the first day I sh*t the bed with my makeup, which became all anyone could talk to me about on set, and everything I have to offer feels overshadowed by makeup/getting read all the time,” she wrote.
“Like I get it, I know we signed up to be critiqued and talked about, but reducing me to crunchy makeup when I’m literally so talented, charismatic, creative, funny, smart, and NOW gorgeous it just feels so short sighted of people I guess.”
Despite being eliminated early on, Amanda has been dubbed the “breakout star” of season 16 and amassed a huge fanbase, many of whom rushed to support her following the joke.
“Your immediate impact on the audience with your incredible performance ability followed up with your all around growth during and post season – you’re a queen of many talents and it should be recognized,” gushed one fan.
“Amanda, your personality SHINED when you were on the show. The world fell in love with you! I know you wanted to showcase more and I ofc can’t understand necessarily how you’re feeling… but we all love you sm and I can’t wait to see you win All Stars,” added a second.
Following her elimination from the show, Amanda came out as trans, and revealed that her former partner had struggled to come to terms with her gender identity.
“I was in a bad place about it, mentally, for a while, but you get to a point where you’re like, I have to do what’s right for me, and that involved getting out of that [relationship],” she explained.
“I showed up to Drag Race in this space of, I’m going to advocate for myself, I’m going to stand up for myself, I’m not going to allow myself to be victimised in the way that I feel like I have been in the past, pre-Drag Race.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 is available to stream on MTV in the US and WOW Presents Plus.
How did this story make you feel?
