RuPaul’s Drag Race Queens Celebrate Emmy Nominations at Televerse Festival

The queens of Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race gathered to celebrate their Emmy nominations at the Televerse Festival, showcasing their talent and resilience in the performing arts.
Celebrating Emmy Nominations: A Fierce Reunion of Drag Race Queens
Four stand-out queens from Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race — Lexi Love, Sam Star, Acacia Forgot, and Lana Ja’Rae — reunited at the inaugural Televerse Festival to celebrate the 10 Emmy nominations for the main show and its companion series RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked. They were joined by head makeup artist David “Raven” Petruschin, franchise executive producer Mandy Salangsang, Untucked co-executive producer Natalia James, and “Pit Crew” member Bruno Alcantara.
Epic Lip Sync Showdown
The four queens participated in a classic Lip Sync LaLaPaRuza Smackdown specifically for Television Academy members, who voted on the winners for each round. Lexi dominated the first performance against Sam with the song “Adrenaline,” while Lana triumphed in the second lip-sync against Acacia to “American.” Lexi and Lana then competed for the pink sash to the song “Queendom,” with the audience voting Lana the winner.
The Essence of Drag Performance
“My favorite part about drag is performing,” Lana explained. “It’s the one thing I love doing. For those two minutes and 30 seconds that the song is playing, you can transport the room and the judges into your world. That is the most beautiful thing about the art of performing.”
Acacia shared how the show transformed her life: “I was preparing for my final gig of a music tour, feeling depressed about returning to my day job in L.A. Then I got the call that my dreams came true, and I get to do this for the rest of my life.”
“Oh my god, it’s changed everything for me,” Sam agreed. “Coming from Alabama, I never felt I had opportunities to be myself. Drag Race shaped my life. We are nominated for Emmys! It’s crucial to support queer art, because we’re not going anywhere, honey.”
Personal Moments and Production Insights
Lexi highlighted a poignant moment from Season 17: “My mother calling me her daughter. I never thought that would happen. It’s literally better than Christmas to watch that moment on television as many times as I need.”
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From the production side, Salangsang revealed the show’s personal origins: “Much of what we do is based on RuPaul’s own career. We aim to fill various creative buckets each season, from fashion to music and modeling.”
This season, the companion series Untucked became even more “raw” and “unfiltered.” James emphasized, “Our queens are the heartbeat of Untucked. Without their joy, fun, and vulnerability, the show is nothing.”
Raven, who won an Emmy in 2020 for her work on RuPaul’s makeup, described her relationship with RuPaul: “I always want to give Ru what she wants, because that’s how you feel the most beautiful. I couldn’t ask for a better job than working with RuPaul.”
Event Details
The Televerse Festival is a three-day event for industry insiders and television fans, held at the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles. Final-round Emmy voting runs from Aug. 18 to Aug. 27, and the Primetime Emmys will air on CBS on Sept. 14.