Drag Race star Priyanka recalls ‘scary’ We’re Here filming incident as season four trailer drops
Drag Race and We’re Here star Priyanka. (Nick Merzetti)
Season four of We’re Here is the most important yet, cast member and Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka tells PinkNews as the new trailer for HBO’s reality show arrives.
The trailer for We’re Here season four dropped yesterday (9 April), and features Drag Race winners Priyanka, Sasha Velour, and Jaida Essence Hall, plus fan favourite Latrice Royale, as they head to the southern US states of Tennessee and Oklahoma.
We’re Here follows the drag stars as they seek to understand what life is like for LGBTQ+ people in towns where anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is rife, and attempt to put on a drag show to bring the towns’ small queer communities together.
In the trailer, the group face the threat of arrest for performing in drag, as Tennessee and Oklahoma legislators attempted to bring in drag bans in the states last year.
It also features a young girl calling the queer community an “LGBTQ religion”, and a drag queen politician who has had their house shot at after they attempted to run for office.
As anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues being proposed in the US – there are currently almost 500 such bills in states across the country – the return of We’re Here couldn’t be any more pertinent.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, Priyanka explained that early on during the filming process, she and Sasha Velour were hounded by “a truck full of white men” who “screamed” at them.
“They screamed at first and then they [said] ‘F****t’. Then Sasha and I… we looked at each other and were like, ‘Did they just say f****t?’. I remember feeling like this is very scary,” Priyanka said.
“Typically, when we’re shooting the show, the cameras are around. The camera was there, the crew was there, and they were still [shouting] ‘F*****s. It was and is scary,” she added, explaining that the pair weren’t even in drag when the incident occurred.
“It was scary, but I was like, if getting up in drag and parading around is gonna inspire somebody, it has to be worth it.”
The 32-year-old drag performer and “No New Friends” hitmaker also explained that appearing on the show opened her eyes to how “real” anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is across America.
In the trailer, the aforementioned young girl and her father slam queer people as being part of a “cult”, as Priyanka and Sasha attempt to have a conversation with them. By that point, Jaida Essence Hall had had to “walk away” from the situation.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘Whoa this is real, this is not a comment, this is on TikTok, this is not on Twitter. Like, this is f***ing real. We had a conversation with those people and it did not go well,” she explained.
“I keep saying during the show that it’s one thing for me to come and parade there in drag and it’s another thing for someone else to live there and go to the grocery store and the coffee shops every single day,” she added.
“We lived there for a month, so we got a little piece of it, but not as bad as what a person who actually lives in Tennessee or Oklahoma has to go through.”
While Priyanka described We’re Here season four as a “trauma, cry show”, Drag Race fans will also get to see their favourite queens in a whole new light.
“You’re gonna see another side of Sasha that you’ve never seen before,” Priyanka teased.
“I was watching some of the episodes and I was like ‘OK, Sasha, you’re giving comedy!’ And Jaida is so cute and so emotional, truly. I think she cries like four times every episode. Latrice is just like big momma, she’ll take everyone down.”
“I’m excited for you to see it,” she said. “It’s very important and not only is it changing the world, but it’s going to impact all four of our lives.”
We’re Here season four lands on HBO on 26 April.
