It is coming down to the wire and there are only a handful of girls left on this season's RuPaul's Drag Race. Unfortunately, after being put in the bottom two for the third time, Milan was not able to impress the judges and was asked to sashay away. From London to Paris to RuPaul's Drag Race, Milan was able to make a memorable impact with the judges, her fellow queens and the audience watching at home.

If you combine Kelly Rowland, Brandy and Janelle Monae you would get Milan. Wait, add a little of Beyoncè's dances moves in there. There we go! An incredible performer and, as you will see in the interview below, one of the most positive and upbeat queens you will ever meet. Joe Drake took some time to chat with Milan (or Dwayne Milan, the name she is going by these days) about her time spent on every gay man's favorite reality competition show.  

Milan: Hey Joe, how are you?

OLOGY: Good! How are you Milan?

I’m great!

How’s your day going so far? 

It is actually great, to be honest. I mean, I’m sitting in curling wigs preparing for a show tomorrow. I have girls coming over to rehearse for a production that we’re doing for tomorrow at XL in New York City.

Oh that’s great! Y’know, I live in New York too.

You do?

I do. Where do you live?

I live on 126^th

I’m on 119!

Are you kidding me? We’re right down the street. You could have came over to my apartment to do this.

I was just going say, we could have done this in person!

There’s a Popeye’s across the street if you’re into that.

I am very much into that! [Laughs] I love it. So tell me why you chose Milan as your drag name.

Well, in college I went to a modeling convention with a friend and it was Halloween weekend.  And so it was my first time doing drag, and everybody was coming up with their names. One girl was calling herself Naomi, and some girl called herself Heather, and I was like, “You know what? I’m Milan. All of you have to come to me to get your start.”

Love it.

M: It just kind of stuck with me. It’s sort of ambiguous, it doesn’t say guy or girl, and so it stuck with me all along. But these days I’m trying to fuse the boy naming as well, and it’s very inspired by Chad Michaels and Willam. So I’m trying to go with Dwayne Milan these days, just to add a little bit more originality to it.

Right, I like that.

Yeah, I want to personalize it a little more.

Totally. So what were those early days of doing drag like?

Oh, it was fun! I mean, it’s still fun! But I was choreographing for a lot of the girls in South Carolina who are fashion queens. And they called on me to help them choreograph the numbers. And after a while, this one particular girl I was working with – she was very, very talented, but unfortunately she wasn’t winning. People were saying, like, “Oh well, anytime that you’re on stage I look at you. And you should be doing drag. And you have this and this and this.” So, yeah, my drag mother at the time, Nicole, decided to doll me up and the rest is herstory.

And you made it all the way on to RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Yes I did! I’ve said this before, and I meant it, it’s like Broadway for queens who do drag. So I was more than blessed to have the opportunity. When it was my time to go, I didn’t feel like I lost at all. I’ve accomplished so much in my life, and I can’t be that namedropping person, because it’s just not my character so to speak, but I’ve accomplished so much and so just to get to that level was a huge accomplishment for me. So I’m more than grateful and blessed.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it’s not a sad moment, it’s not any of that stuff. I mean, there are so many girls that want to be there, and I can sleep in my grave saying, “I did that!”

Absolutely, absolutely. So last night’s mini challenge was the wet T-shirt contest. Tell me a little about that. Was that fun or was it sort of nerve wracking to be out there in front of all those guys?

Oh, man, that was so much fun! I mean, for me it’s fun to be able to live in the fantasy, so to speak. To pretend to be some Hooter’s chick. And be adored by the people who have taken their time to sit out in the audience and watch. You know, it’s not a five second shoot. So, it was like so much fun to just go out there and have fun. I’m more than sure the people that know me know that, yes, I can have those moments, where I probably would be that kind of freak. Y’know, but it was fun really pushing it and going there. From an acting perspective as well as just entertaining the crowd. So it was just so much fun. Those boobs were heavy!

They looked heavy! Poor Phi Phi had a problem!

Yeah, those boobs were heavy! So I totally understand when her boobs came off. And I can understand her wig coming off. I mean, that’s sort of a trademark of mine, now.

I guess so, huh? But before we get to that, how was the float challenge for you? Did you feel like it was a difficult challenge to make the boat, or did you feel confident?

Yeah, I mean, it was a difficult challenge to like physically make the float. That’s never been my forte. I’m a writer, I’m a producer, I’m a choreographer. But applying my knowledge to a float was a little bit of a challenge for me. So I wanted to at least convey a message of hope for the drag community. Like, I’m sure you’re familiar with the invasion here in New York on Fire Island. It didn’t come off the way I wanted it to, but I really wanted to make the attempt for people to say, “Look, we need to embrace each other in our own community.”

I like that!

The fact that I took the risk in order for it to happen, I am so proud of myself for even taking the risk. So I’m totally fine.

Absolutely. I mean, were you nervous when you were put in the bottom two three different times? Or did you feel confident because you had the ability to turn it out?

Well, it’s a bittersweet moment, to be honest, because you really don’t want to be in the bottom. But at the same time if you are going to be in the bottom, the audience gets to see what you do. And often times, whether it’s the girls from this season or a pageant in some such and such place, or any season. You don’t know what these girls are physically going to do sometimes when they show up at your bar. And to a certain degree, whether you love me or you hate me, you know that I’m gonna bring something to your club.

Right, and I think it was important that you got to showcase that.

Totally. Because everyone is not gonna do their homework. They’re not going to YouTube all of us and see what we can do. They’re gonna watch the show, they’re gonna eat their popcorn and drink their drinks and talk with their friends and see what we bring to the stage there. So, again, I’m blessed that I’ve had that moment to say, “Look, I have to offer this, I can offer you this, if you choose to invest more, then there’s YouTube, there’s everything else. But when I come to your bar, unless you have your reservations with my style of drag, you’re gonna know that I’m gonna be a show stopper.

Absolutely. And it’s gonna draw a crowd.

Yeah. And I’m in the best mood today!

That’s good! I can hear it in your voice. Now, who do you think deserves to win? Who truly deserves to walk away with title of America’s Next Drag Superstar?

Oh, wow, that’s a hard question. I mean, like, the thing that I like about this season the most, I have to say this first, is the spectrum of the drag. Like, everybody is sort of coming with their ideology of what drag means to them. And so, in saying that, it’s very hard for me to pick one person. I think, for me, I have to go with heart first, because there are so many different styles of drag. I have to go with heart first, and my heart says that I would give the crown to Latrice Royale.

A lot of people have been saying that. She has the BEST one-liners. “The SHAAADE OF IT ALL!”

[Laughs] I think that Latrice shows the most heart, she’s genuine, she genuinely cares for everyone, she’s not afraid to take risks, she’s not afraid to be ugly and pretty. She sets the bar in my personal opinion. However, given the fact that we’ve watched so many seasons of the show, I think that Sharon brings a whole ‘nother element of drag to the table as well.

Right, it’s so different. In a good way.

I think people want to see something different. And I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse to the brand itself, but I think that people do want to see something different. So, I don’t know what that means for the other girls. So, those two stand out to me the most. I think it’s important for people to have an individual that can be positive – and to be honest and  open  about the way they feel – but just to have more of a positive heart. And Latrice does that first and foremost more than anyone else.

Absolutely, absolutely. Do you think that people like Phi Phi and Dida, who are a little bit more “typical” drag queens, I mean, they’re not as crazy and kooky as Sharon and they’re not as different as Latrice, do you think that hurts girls like that in this competition?

Well, I think that at the end of the day, people like they’re type of drag. It doesn’t even matter. For instance, if you’re the quiet girl and you do ‘60s drag and that’s your thing, those people who love ‘60s drag, they could care less about everyone else. They like their type of their drag. They’re willing to allow certain reservations. Like, so and so is a bitch, but I love her hair. So it’s a matter of taste. I can’t honestly give you a true opinion on that, it’s kind of an open ended question that I honestly can’t give you a straight answer to.

Alright, before we go, because I know we’re running out of time, I’ve been asking this fun question to all the girls this season. You’re in a dark alley, and you have to choose one of the girls to run into, and you can do ANYTHING to them. Who do you choose to run into, and what do you do to them?

A dark alley. [Laughs]

I mean, it’s a pretty open ended question, so...don’t hold back!

I would, y’know what, I would honestly hope that it would be Kenya Michaels.

Oh yeah? Why?

And I would, yes, I would start out, I would give her the biggest hug and I would say, “You and me, let’s dance to the death. You and me. And the winner will walk out of this alley.”

[Laughs] Absolutely. That’s what you guys did last week. I mean, I told her when I talked to her last week, it was the best ‘Lip Synch for Your Life’ I’ve ever seen. You guys worked it out.

I mean, that was one of the hardest things of being there, because I don’t know if people really genuinely understood that I loved her. And I still love her. And it’s just, I don’t know if my compassion for her was actually shown. But I love her. And we are friends. She was the one girl, in my opinion, that was a dancer. Like, a dancer! She was fierce at everything, had a heart of gold, and everybody loved her. And so like, I was an emotional wreck after that, because I did not want to go against her. But at the same time, if I’m going to go against someone, let it be someone that I feel like is totally the person I should go against.

Absolutely. And maybe they put you guys there so that you could give the audience a show, because like I said, we hadn’t seen two girls that could dance like that go at it with each other.

Well, I think that honestly, respectively, we both failed. My Diane Ross wasn’t perfect, and her Beyonce was to the left, to the left. We just had to face the music and deal with the situation. It was unfortunate for me that I got a lot of hate mail for reasons I still don’t understand, because I think that it was a great match, and I won’t sit back and say I didn’t deserve it. I felt like I honestly deserved it, but it is a competition. And people watching have to realize it’s a competition. I genuinely have nothing but love for her. Every time we see each other, we always share our moments together and express how much we love each other. But, people at home don’t hear that. So, to get that hate mail was daunting on my spirits. 

Well, screw the stupid hate mail! I mean, f*ck it! What are you going to do at the end of the day, y’know?

Well, at the end of the day, it is what it is, but my mission, even with doing show, is just to show love. And anytime I see someone that’s gonna start spewing hate for no warranted reason other than the simple fact that they have a preference for her over me, it’s just a negative situation. And I don’t like the negativity. That was daunting on my spirits, because it had nothing to do with me, it had nothing to do with my message and my talent. It was just people being negative. So, that was a little emotionally hard for me to take in. But, getting back to the question, yeah, I’d give her a big ass hug and say, “Sis, you know I love you, you love me, let’s dance in this alley and the person who walks out...” [Laughs] 

I know a bunch of my friends that would love to see you guys have a dance off. Pick your favorite Hell’s Kitchen homosexual establishment and we’ll do it! [Laughs] That would be so much fun!

Yeah, it would be so much fun! I would even be open to doing a rematch in any location, and we can donate all the proceeds to charity. I don’t care. I’m all about the love of it all. So I’m just appreciative, again, of the fact that I had the opportunity and I can share a glimpse of what I do and who I am to the world.

You have such a good attitude, it was such a pleasure to talk to you today.

Oh, anytime! I told you, I’m across from the Popeye’s, come on over!

[Laughs] Absolutely! I’m going to come see you at XL. When are you there?

M: It’s on Wednesdays at 9. I have a rehearsal with the girls today at 2 preparing for the show tomorrow.

Awesome. I will be sure to come by one of these weeks!

Definitely! Add me on Twitter, add me on Facebook, y’know.

Sounds good, thank you so much Milan!

You are more than welcome. Have a good day!

[Logo TV]

Comments (0)

ALSO IN...

RuPaul's Drag Race