RuPaul: Uncut
by Colin Morphy
04-28-2005

Colin Murphy: Will this be your first time performing in St. Louis?

RuPaul: I don’t think so, I mean, I’ve been at this so many years. I think I’ve performed in St. Louis before and if I have it’s probably only been one time before, but I’m not sure.

CM: Well we’re looking forward to having you. A lot of the recent stories are reporting that “RuPaul is attempting a comeback” and I couldn’t help but think of that scene in “Sunset Boulevard” where an angry Norma Desmond shouts, “It’s not a comeback, it’s a return!” Are you finding yourself having to reintroduce yourself to the public?

Ru: Well no I haven’t had to reintroduce. It has been more, I think, a return. But you know Americans, our culture, we love a comeback, we love to fight for the underdog and you know I understand that, I completely understand it. Especially in this fast-paced-media, sort of whirlwind, that we’re all involved with in this business called celebrity.

You know, people don’t have time to sort of keep up with other people and there are all these new kids who are coming up the pike in the broader sense of show business. Obviously in the gay world there’s still very few. But I was watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade from a friend’s balcony in Columbus Circle and a lot of people on the floats—nobody knew who they were. Because they were some kid from some WB show about the beach and then there was a kid whose claim to fame was that he once dated Ashley Simpson. And there were all these people and we were like, “Who the f*** are these people?”

But I understand why people would say comeback. It doesn’t matter. The main thing is that I’m doing what I love and that I’m interested in it again. For a long time I wasn’t interested in it and that’s why I had to take some time away from it.

CM: That fits right into the next question: You did take five years off and you said in your web log that you took some time off to reconnect with yourself personally and with your family. A lot of celebrities would be afraid to take that time off because fame can be fickle. Do you find that you’re a better rounded person both as a private and public figure?

Ru: Some people would be afraid to take that time off. I’d be afraid to not take that time off. I had to just for myself. I know what’s important. I know what’s important in here and what’s important is that I am happy and that I’m healthy and that I feel good about myself and my work and if it means taking time away from show business to do that then that’s what I must do. And you know I’ve been at this for several hundred years so I know better. I know that you have to go inside and then reemerge. Bears do it.

CM: Turning to your new CD, I’ve listened to several of the tracks and it’s great and aptly named “Red Hot.”  A lot of the gay clubs here are playing some of the tracks. Are you finding that it’s more difficult promoting and producing to the masses through your own record label?

Ru: You know my goal with this album wasn’t to promote to the masses. My goal was to promote to the people who were interested in me. And in terms of energy I didn’t want to sort of cast a wide net in hopes of capturing the interest of the whole world. My hope was to get it to people who wanted it, get it to people who are interested in it. So trying to sort of recruit new fans or listeners and all that stuff, I didn’t want to fool with any of that. My goal was to make a fantastic record that I was really proud of and that I love and then get it to the people who want to hear it from me—want to hear my music. And I think we did a good job with that. I think with the internet and with my own website and through the avenues that are available to me today I think we did well with that.

CM: You also have three dolls coming out this summer and that sounds like great fun—they’re dubbed the worlds first tranny fashion dolls. Could you talk about that project?

Ru: Integrity Toys approached me about the doll about six or seven months ago and it actually took me about a month to get back to them because I was on the road. I’d been approached to do dolls for many years, as far back as ten years ago and I was never impressed with the companies who approached me so it never happened. And when I got the offer from Integrity it took me a while to actually go in and look at what it is they do and when I finally did, after a month of the offer being on the table, I was very impressed with the quality of their work and the attention to detail and the packaging. I thought, “Wow, this is really special and really unique.” So I jumped on it and thought this is exactly where I want to be.

CM: I have to ask: Who do you see the RuPaul doll hooking up with, G.I. Joe or Malibu Ken?

Ru: Well I think probably G.I Joe only because G.I. Joe is more devoted to his own ideals even though G.I. Joe is probably Republican which wouldn’t gel well with me. I think that Malibu Ken is probably too frivolous and too self centered.

CM: What was more difficult, being accepted as a gay man or being accepted as a female impersonator?

Ru: I think being accepted as a gay man, which is still a challenge for me. I was just thinking about this this morning during an interview. A lot of the famous people that I’ve met, they’re cordial and nice, but there’s also an underlying theme in their behavior around me that makes me feel like I’ve done something to them or that—they’re very cautious with me. And inevitably I have to have this talk with myself where I say, “Ru, this has nothing to do with you.” It has to do with the way people grow up and the way people are taught from very early on in their life that boys who play with girls things are not to be trusted, are pagan, satanic and evil. And basically that’s what we’re taught from childhood.

I mean even if you look all the Disney cartoons, the male villains are sort of effeminate, affected men. And even the female villains are effeminate, affected men. So we grow up with this distrust of male, feminine energy and that’s where I’m getting that from. But it’s kind of fucked up though because I have to process all this negative energy coming my way. It’s very easy for people to accept me in drag because then I present myself in this non-threatening, almost caricature, cartoonish way. But as soon as I’m just me as a man people are afraid.

CM: Switching gears, the conservative political climate is pervasive right now. Were you active in last year’s election?

Ru: Absolutely, absolutely. In fact that was one of the catalysts to get me back into the public eye so to speak. I figured my hibernation and my time of just having barbecues and being a good Uncle and taking it easy had to come to an end because it was time for me to get back out there and to be a presence in the world for young people and for myself because I was sorely missed. And quite frankly, no one else is doing what I do, no one was representing, no one was speaking for the people who dance to the beat of a different drum.

CM: What’s your take on the Bush administration’s obsession with gay marriage?

Ru: You know what? Not only is the Bush administration obsessed with gay men—gay women, it’s a different thing, it’s a different category and I can get into that, but it’s different—when you talk about man on man love, our culture is obsessed with it from Howard Stern to all the late night talk shows on television, everything. And they’re usually talking about it in a negative way but they will not leave it alone. That’s all I can say; they’re just obsessed with it and it’s because maybe it’s so taboo or maybe because the truth is there’s only one of us here and you can’t deny sexuality, you can’t just pretend like it doesn’t exist. We’re all attracted to it.

CM: Do you sense the gay community is becoming more united with all of this going on?

Ru: I don’t. I don’t. You know we talked about effeminate men earlier—a lot of the discrimination I’ve experienced from being a feminine man has come from the gay community. And the same used to be true in the black community where if you seemed to be very ghetto; sort of upwardly mobile black people would shun you, because you represented everything that they’re trying to get away from. Well, that turned around in the black community. Now if you can be as ghetto as you want to be then you earn the respect of the black community. I suspect that at one point that will happen in the gay community where you can be as “nelly” as you can imagine and that’s how you would gain the respect of the gay community. That would be quite something.

CM: Harvey Fierstein said something very similar that most of the discrimination he faced was from the gay community. Do you think that comes from a place of some form of self hatred do you think?

Ru: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, it’s something to do with our nature as humans on this planet. In the book “Animal Farm” George Orwell talks about it. When you’ve been oppressed and rise up somewhat, it’s very hard to not behave in the way you’ve been taught by your oppressor.

CM: Two more questions: You’ve been very candid about your past drug use, what are your thoughts on the current “Crystal Craze” going on in the gay club scene? There are a lot of boys off the hook.

Ru: Yeah, yeah. I think the good news about that whole scene is that you can’t do it for very long and that eventually, or sooner rather than later, it brings a lot of kids into recovery. Because hitting rock bottom comes a lot faster than if you were just drinking alcohol or just smoking pot or something. What happens is the turn over is very fast so you either get dead really fast or you hit rock bottom and turn your life around really fast. Unfortunately before any of those things can happen a lot of other dangerous things can happen and I feel bad for them.

What I’ve found in my own experience with drugs and alcohol is that I didn’t know how to process my feelings. I didn’t know how to communicate my feelings and that’s why it was very easy for me to go overboard with drugs and alcohol. And in the years that I’ve been sober, I’ve learned those tools from a lot of friends; people who were willing to help me. I’ve learned how to communicate my feelings and I’ve learned how to process my feelings. So I can only pray that these kids who are doing Crystal Meth can somehow learn how to process their feelings.

CM: Final question Ru: You have a quote in the press kit saying in part, “If you can dance, you can start a revolution.” So much, so quickly has happened to the gay community. Is the revolution at hand?

Ru: I’m praying, I pray it is. Our biggest enemy is fear and complacency and I can only pray that the revolution is at hand. Something tells me it’s not quite there yet.

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