Willam Gets Kicked Out of DragCon: Moment of Shade

Willam Gets Kicked Out of DragCon: Moment of Shade

This last weekend every drag queen, famous or not, descended upon Los Angeles for RuPaul's DragCon 2024. Debuting in 2015, it is the annual expo that celebrates "the art of drag, queer culture, and self-expression for all." It is considered the world's largest celebration of drag culture. It's an expo with panels, meet and greets, pop-up performances, and tons of booths with the queens selling their merchandise. The entrances of Drag Race alum have gotten bigger and more dramatic.

 

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Well, this year was a bit more dramatic than DragCon probably wanted as reportedly, drag superstar and former Drag Race contestant Willam Belli got bounced from the proceedings.

 

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Willam took to social media to report that she was surrounded by cops and guards and forced to leave the event. She said the DragCon security waited until she was backstage before she was asked to leave, maintaining they were waiting to be out of sight of the fans and cameras to do so.

 

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Willam appeared on Drag Race's 4th season, being the only contestant to have been cut mid-competition. Willam has spoken openly about the mistreatment she alleges took place during filming. She was also cast in All Stars just to be cut 40 hours prior, causing the queen to lose income for canceling appearances and gigs to film the series. She alleges that they were told not to talk or look at RuPaul, that they were underfed, and that some of the contestants were racially harassed.

She made a music video about her relationship with RuPaul, it has over 4 million views:

In her social media post, Willam also talks about alleged sexual harassment that happened on set. The show says she was cut from the show because she violated the rules of not leaving the hotel (something apparently other queens do). In her recount of being ousted from Drag Con, she also says the convention had record lows this year and that internet was not provided in a timely manner to those queens that paid for a booth. No internet means they couldn't sell their wares.

 

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Reactions to her social media posts were mixed. Some have the sentiment that she shouldn't bite the hand that feeds her and that Drag Race has made the queens who they are today. That might be true for some queens but Willam has a huge career and fan base all on her own. A large portion of social media show their support of Willam and applaud her for calling out the franchise.

Should she have been asked to leave DragCon?

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