Baga Chipz denies calling for Drag Race to be axed following The Vivienne’s death

Drag icon Baga Chipz has denied calling for RuPaul’s Drag Race to be scrapped following The Vivienne’s death, claiming her comments were “in jest”.

The comments were made following The Vivienne’s death at the age of 32 at the beginning of January, with Baga suggesting reruns of the drag artist’s best moments should be aired instead of new episodes of Drag Race. 

Alongside the comments, Baga also posted a moving tribute to The Vivienne, who she competed with on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019, describing them as her “bestest friend”.

“My beautiful boy. My James. Our Viv. You taught me the true meaning of sisterhood but more importantly you taught me how to do a cut crease. I’m sending all my love to your mama and family, me and the girls will always be there for them. I’m gonna bloody miss you friend. Get the drinks in for me love,” she wrote on Instagram. 

After pushback to her comments about Drag Race, Baga clarified in an interview with The Mirror US that the comments were “in jest”, and that “people take things so literal”.

“I’d be like, ‘Oh, I don’t think we should have Drag Race anymore. Let’s just watch re-runs of the Viv,’ and I was laughing while I said it. It wasn’t literally, ‘I think we should just cancel Drag Race now’’,” she told the outlet. 

She added: “It was more me trying to give a compliment, ‘Who needs Drag Race when we’ve already had the Viv,’ you know what I mean? So it was more like that, not literally ‘I want it canceled’.”

Baga Chipz explained that The Vivienne’s “biggest love was drag”, explaining that fans should “keep going to the drag shows and keep supporting drag and support your venues”. 

She added that The Vivienne was a big fan of “old school drag”, encouraging fans to watch and support drag artists who hadn’t been on TV. 

“Even though she incorporated modern because of the look and the polish, when it came to entertaining, you could literally be on stage in a bean bag but, if you’re entertaining and you make people laugh, that’s what’s important,” she said. 

Hundreds of people gathered in Liverpool on 12 January to honour the RuPaul’s Drag Race winner after their death, with their family stating that they had been “overwhelmed” by “love”. 

“As a family we are completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for James, The Vivienne,” their family read, adding that they were “unbelievably proud” of what the star had achieved.

“From an early age it was evident he was destined for the stage… he was determined to pave his own way in this world. The road was not easy but the dream never, ever changed and James would always tell us that they would make it happen and they did.”

They added: “We will miss you for an eternity and for an eternity we will all love you.”

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