Michelle Visage on The “Evolution” Of ‘Drag Race’ & Embracing One Month’s Notice To Host ‘Drag Race Down Under’ [Interview]

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!

EXCLUSIVE: Spenser Granese (Little Death) has landed a role opposite Kiernan Shipka, Kiefer Sutherland and Krysten Ritter in Stone Cold Fox, the ’80s action thriller marking the directorial debut of Sophie Tabet, on which we were first to report.

On the latest episode of BBC's Escape to the Country, house-hunter Susan was visibly moved to tears after viewing her dream home.

The brand new show Drag! The Musical is heading to New York this fall!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Ever since snatching the season 16 crown on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” life for Nymphia Wind has been nothing short of a whirlwind experience. She has performed for the President of Taiwan, opened for Steve Aoki at the Gold Gala after party, joined her fellow queens at the Critics Choice Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema and Television and, earlier this month, performed at Vice President Kamala Harris’ Pride Celebration in Washington D.C. She has yet to sit down and have an “Oh God, I won” moment — and she has no intention of stopping for one.

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events.

In little more than a year, RuPaul’s Drag Race has raised $2 million to help the ACLU push back against anti-LGBT efforts, including attacks against drag performance.The news was first reported on June 10 in a Variety exclusive.According to the ACLU, the Drag Defense Fund initiative, formed in April 2023, also partners with MTV and the World of Wonder production company to “fuel the ACLU’s expansive advocacy work in support of the LGBTQ community, which includes everything from courtroom battles, to guidance on state-level legislation, to challenging LGBTQ censorship in classrooms.”World of Wonder produces Drag Race, which airs on MTV. Transgender drag performer Peppermint, who placed second in Season 9 of Drag Race, spoke about the hostile political landscape currently faced by drag performers and the whole of the LGBT community on the ACLU’s At Liberty podcast in January of 2023, shortly before the initiative was launched.

16 years ago, executive producer Tom Campbell remembers when almost no one would take a chance on a reality drag competition series. Now, RuPaul’s Drag Race has received 63 Emmy nominations, with 29 wins, and has just wrapped their highest rated season in the last four years. “Every award we get, or anytime we get to talk about the show,” says Campbell, “I just think it reinforces that hopefully there’ll be one more year of RuPaul’s Drag Race and telling those important queer stories that rarely, if ever, get told.”

Kirsten Dunst put on a daring outfit for her latest appearance!

Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon is up and running – but what happened to Jaehaerys and Jaehaera in last night’s big premiere?The first episode of season two aired on HBO in the US on June 17, with UK viewers able to watch concurrently via Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW.Last month, a trailer for the second season was released, which built upon the tension that highlighted season one’s end, when Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) conspired to put Alicent’s son Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the throne after King Viserys (Paddy Considine) snuffed it.Viserys had originally designated daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) as his heir – but a death-bed change-of-mind (conveniently only heard by Alicent) changed all that. Cue a Targaryen civil war, otherwise known as the ‘Dance Of The Dragons’ by readers of George R.R.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events “RuPaul’s Drag Race” powers on — literally. Season 16 stars Dawn, Mhi’Ya Iman Le’Paige, Morphine, Q, Plane Jane, Sapphira Cristál and winner Nymphia Wind performed the original song “Power” from the “Werq the World” episode at Monday’s Emmy FYC event at the Culver City Library. And only “Just for Variety” has the exclusive premiere of the performance.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is a massive platform for stars on the rise!

House Of The Dragon star Fabien Frankel has revealed that he auditioned for the role of George Harrison in one of Sam Mendes’ upcoming Beatles biopics.Announced back in February, the four biographical films will each be told from the perspective of a different Beatles group member, and will intersect to “tell the story of the greatest band in history.”Previously, it was reported that Paul Mescal will portray Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will be Ringo Starr and Charlie Rowe will star as George Harrison. At the time of writing, these rumours have not been confirmed nor denied by Sony, which will be distributing Mendes’ films.Now, in an exclusive interview with NME, Frankel has revealed that he auditioned for the role of Harrison, but didn’t land the part.“I read to play George,” he said.

Since Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram created the series in 2020, along with the help of showrunner Peter LoGreco, We’re Here has won four Emmys and shined a light on the drag and LGBTQ communities in small towns around the U.S. With today’s political climate, especially in smaller conservative areas where Pride events are being cancelled and hate is being directed towards the drag community, the trio decided that a format change was necessary for the fourth season to really get their message across: “There’s definitely a lot more love out there than hate.”

A new character is being added for The Morning Show season four on Apple TV+ in what’s said to be a six episode arc!

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has $2 million for the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund in the 14 months since the initiative was launched. Formed in April 2023 in partnership with World of Wonder, MTV and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the Drag Defense Fund defends constitutional rights and creative expression in the LGBTQ community at a moment when they are under attack and have become a rallying cry for many GOP political leaders and activists.

She may be new to hosting Top Chef, but this experience isn’t that new for Kristen Kish. As the winner of Season 10, Kish was chosen to host when Padma Lakshmi announced her departure from the series after almost two decades. Though the task seemed daunting at first, Kish quickly realized it wasn’t that different from being a chef. “Within the first few days, I was realizing that it was so much more similar than different,” she says. “You address chefs in your restaurant all the time, and you talk about food all the time. You give facts, you hold people accountable, you answer questions, you have conversations with people in the industry… I’ve done all this stuff before.”

Michele Fitzgerald and Devin Walker are dating!

Are you ready for a Slaycation?

annual Tribeca Festival, which opened Wednesday night and runs through June 16, will look a little different this year.For the first time, Tribeca will give awards to short films generated by artificial intelligence. It’s one of the entertainment industry’s first public embraces of the new technology, which many actors and writers fear will render them obsolete.