[additional reporting by Joe Drake]
Love ain’t the easiest thing to find, but after interviewing the queens of RuPaul's Drag Race for the better part of 2012, we've all found a handful of queens to worship and adore. Be it the class act Chad Michaels, the chunky yet funky Latrice Royale, or the spooktacular Sharon Needles, we're so smitten with these driven divas. Talk about finding love in a hopeless place…
And it is really fucking cool that in this day and age, a skinny white boy from Iowa can win $100,000 for dressing up like a woman. A fabulous, free-spirited, gothic wonder woman at that! The winner of Drag Race isn’t just any woman: she's spooky and cooky, sassy and classy, and wears Ouija Board pieces atop her head. Joe Drake & Terron R. Moore got to share Sharon Needles and discuss fame, drag queens and masturbating. Yes, Sharon Needles masturbates.
A lot has happened to Sharon since being on Drag Race. Not only did RuPaul bow down after crowning her the next queen, but Lady Gaga herself tweeted about how fierce she looked a few weeks ago. We had to ask her what it was like to be recognized by such iconic figures, and how it feels to become THE Sharon Needles:
“You know honey, the second I have time to kick off my high heels and wipe off my black lipstick, you will be the first to know! The craziest thing about fame is that only the public feels it. Never the famous. It's something I'm learning. I thought fame was going to be a feeling and it isn’t a feeling, it is more of a concept. I am looking forward to the day I can sit on my couch and hold my cat and think about all of this insanity.”
We wonder if the real reason she can’t feel fame is because of all of the toxic fumes she is inhaling from the hairspray or black makeup? Or the crazy eye contacts that stain her eye the perfect shade of freaky? But that's one of our favorite things about Sharon: her looks are always changing. When asked to show the judges something different, she plopped on a blonde wig and walked the runway like an awkward blonde teenager on her way to Planned Parenthood. Whether it was the Ouija Board piece in the finale, the brilliant Michelle Visage impersonation during Snatch Game, or recently dressing up as RuPaul on the streets of New York this past weekend, we can always count on Ms. Needles to raise the bar:
“I was a little worried about how my RuPaul was going to come out. I was actually dealing with some bad press that week and I was a little hesitant- but then I realized that it was the best way to address this bad press… and to remind people that I am Sharon Fucking Needles. My art is something very close to me. No amount of fame or notoriety will turn my act into a PG-13 cartoon character of myself.”
To dispel any bad press and make sure we realize that she is a fully realized human drag queen, she breaks down just exactly who Sharon Needles is:
“Sharon Needles is based off of three different words. She is beautiful. She is spooky. And she is stupid. This is completely created around my idols of the 80’s and the early 90’s. Growing up in such a small town in Iowa, the TV told me what I was going to become. I am really so focused on the character of Sharon Needles that I don’t want to change her.”
But after some begging and prying, we got Sharon to exclusively tell us what is store for her down the road:
“I can see a reinvention in a year or two. I have this desire to get really tan! I want to make Phi Phi O’Hara look pale. My fans would hate it if I got tan, but any time I go in one direction I have this nagging voice in the back of my head forcing me to go the other way. I have created such a stink about being cob high-fashioned reinvention of the American horror hostess that there is a part of be that wants to be really tan, wear pink and have big blonde hair.”
We can definitely empathize with wanting to be tan (well, Joe can- Tan Towels Sharon, Tan Towels! Check ‘em out sister!) but the question is, can Sharon get as tan as season four’s Miss Congeniality Latrice Royale? Probably not, but she has a few thoughts on the large-and-in-charge fan favorite:
“Latrice Royale is one of the most genuinely kind--no bullshit--gals I have ever met. She made working on the set such a pleasure. She brought a sense of calm to something that was so erratically insane. She at times gave me a sense of peace and spirituality. Not only was she a fierce competitor, but was border lining a stepmother for me. Season 4 would not be such a sensation, and such a touching story, if it wasn’t for the talented and beautiful, chunky yet funky Latrice Royale. She was the literally the first queen on the show that never used a body type as an excuse as a failure. The message she sends for body positivity and plus-sized pride will x reign across the world for years to come.”
Sharon and Latrice provided incredible sound bites throughout the entire season (okay, Phi Phi and Willam did too, but we are privy to Shar and ‘Trice, and that’s what we call them ‘cause we’re pals now.) But through all the fabulous quotes and memorable moments during season four we were dying to know if there were a few things left out that were kept hidden from the viewing public:
“I wish there was a piece of nitty gritty backstage material that ended up on the editing room floor, but c’mon! This is a drag competition. This is a show about adult men dressing up as teenage girls. You best believe that RuPaul will use only the juicy bits. I think you got every last piece of bizarre-ness and shade. It takes about 36 hours to film a 42-minute show so they have to keep the good things.”
Okay, so I guess there wasn’t anything too interesting that we didn’t see. But, just when we thought she gave us a PC answer, Sharon gives LOGO a great idea for next season of Drag Race:
“A camera crew in the hotel filming all of us beat off during the competition... now THAT would be a story! I was kind of stressed I couldn’t masturbate more!”
Yes, you heard that right. Drag queens masturbate (hey, don’t judge! Some people are into that). Clearly Sharon had no time to pleasure herself because she had a crown and $100,000 cash prize to win. But we knew she was going to win the first time we saw her walk onto the show, even if she didn't:
“The only time I was ever convinced that I was going to win this competition was the second I heard my name called on the television this past Monday night. I was shocked that I was even chosen for the show. I was kind of irreverent, a little shocking, sometimes-considered offensive, outsider art transgressional drag queen with a name like Sharon Needles - which is a name most moms wouldn’t want their children to listen to. Just getting into this competition was awe-striking to me, and every day that Ru kept me all I could think was “You crazy bitch, what are you thinking?!” [spooky laughter]
Yes, you see mother, drag queens like to pick names that are a play on words if you will, so a name like Sharon Needles is obviously referring to the exact moment that one old lady shares her knitting tool with another old lady at the community crochet club. See! There's no harm in that…right? So another season of Drag Race has come to a close. Yes, we don’t know what we are going to do with ourselves either. Probably throw on a pair of heels, pour a vodka soda and lip synch for our lives in front of our friends. But, until Friday night rolls around let us bask in the glory that is Sharon Fucking Needles. Happy Halloween!
Follow Joe Drake on Twitter: @JoeDrakeNYC
Follow Terron R. Moore on Twitter: @cityfitch
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