Etcetera Etcetera talks about Australia’s toxic gender culture, standing up to Scarlet Adams, her controversial snatch game and more…
The elimination order of this season has been absolute *Etcetera voice* PISS! Fan favourites are being taken out one by one, and episode 5 was no exception, with The Glamour Bug Bitch, Etcetera Etcetera making her exit!
Always delivering her confessionals with a cheeky smile and quick wit, Etcetera admits that she cherished the moments where she got to sit down, drink a Red Bull and film those confessionals, saying, “It was so much fun! It gave me an opportunity to live my reality TV fantasy. I sat there and I said, ‘well you really want to know how I think? let me lay it out for you!’” Though she does admit that’s only one side of her, explaining, “I’m not as shady as I seem, I’m just very honest, and if you meet me in person, I’ll be so lovely to you… unless you’re wearing something ugly,” she jokes.
Etcetera, who famously utters the lyrics, “bet you thought you’d never see this bitch on Drag Race” in the now iconic ‘Queens Down Under’, divulges that even she didn’t think she’d get on the show, saying, “when they called me and asked me to audition, I thought that was a joke. So, to get through the audition process and then make it on the show, I was like ‘you have to be kidding me. This is an elaborate prank.’”
Etcetera, who identifies as nonbinary trans, talks about the importance of representation, stating, “I think representation of non-binary identity on Australian TV is particularly important because we have such a toxic gender culture in Australia. We must be a manly man, or a girly girl, you can’t be anywhere in between. I wanted to show people that between the black and white, there’s a lot of grey. There’s a lot of space that you can move in, and you don’t have to live your life boxed into a certain idea of what gender is.”
The queen says she had to deal with her body dysphoria during episode one’s Born Naked runway. When approaching the category, Etcetera was torn between many ideas, but ultimately landed on a personal take that represented her dysphoria. Between the category being the first runway of the show, stripping down naked in the werkroom, and looking in the mirrors, it was a lot for her. Etcetera says, “I was surrounded by a bunch of people that I didn’t really know, a film crew that was filming me, and I was about to walk out on international television in a body that I didn’t feel like I fit into on the best of days, and it became very overwhelming.”
Etcetera explains that in a normal situation, her friends – a lot of whom are trans and gender diverse – hare there to step in and reassure her, but Etcetera didn’t have that. Elaborating further, she says, “for the first time I had to be that person for myself, I had to say ‘you’re valid in this moment, you are representing your own idea of gender and your nonbinary identity’. It was an intense moment.”
The nonbinary finery from down under proclaims that, because of the challenge, “I understood myself more.”
While discussing particular moments in the show, Etcetera’s Snatch Game performance was mentioned, with the queen explaining, “the version of Lindy [Chamberlain] that I was doing was the Meryl Streep version from ‘A Cry in The Dark.’ – the movie where Meryl puts on a terrible Australian accent, a terrible wig and she creates this weird Australian character that doesn’t really represent anything that Lindy was. I wanted to parody that version of the story.”
Though she does realise that her portrayal caused offence, stating, “people were upset, and I understand that. I think that everyone’s feelings are definitely valid.”
In another controversy, during episode 5, it was brought to light that fellow contestant, (*cough, cough* Scarlet Adams) had previously done blackface in drag. Etcetera talks about why she was compelled to call Scarlet out when no one else was, saying, “I think a lot of people get uncomfortable with conversations around race, especially in a room full of white people, because they don’t feel like they’re qualified to speak on it. This conversation should never be centred around white people’s opinions.
However, as an ally, it was my responsibility in that moment when no one else was speaking up, to call Scarlet out as a fellow white person, as a drag queen that works in similar circles to her, and as a cast member on the show, and just say, ‘you have to recognize that’s not okay, and you have to do things to show communities of colour that you’re sorry, you can’t just say you’re sorry! You have to do things to show you’re sorry!’”
Etcetera stresses that the ball’s entirely in Scarlets court, emphasising, “it’s her responsibility now to take those actions. I think she still needs to do more work in showing that she really is sorry in her actions,” further stating that, “it’s a bigger issue than just Scarlet. It’s the clubs that booked her, it’s the clubs that continue to book racists, and people that do demeaning performances.”
On Scarlet’s apology, she says, “that’s not a white person’s job to accept that apology.”
“I think allies need to continue platforming and highlighting the voices of people of colour, because POC shouldn’t be expected to raise these issues themselves and bear the entire burden, but they should be at the centre of these conversations.”
In her final episode, Etcetera went up against Maxi Shields in the bottom two lip-sync, where Maxi gagged the judges by pulling out a bedazzled microphone. The queen who is “proud of how I did,” asserts that there isn’t a thing she would change about her time on drag race… however she does wish she brought her own little sparkly microphone as well.
The queen who’s departing words on the runway were, “well, I guess you can kill a cockroach” promises that this bug is still kicking, “you know when you cut a cockroach’s head off? It still crawls around for a looong time. You haven’t seen the last of me.”
If you can’t get enough Etcetera and her piss, you can always go to her website and purchase a shirt or a mug, and with an endorsement like “if you want your coffee to taste like piss, you know where to get the mug” how could you not?
