‘Drag Race UK’: Sister Sister talks trolls and being kind online
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 2 has been one of the most memorable seasons from the whole franchise and with good reason. Not only are the drag queens fierce, but the memes are equally entertaining.
Recently, Drag Race contestant Sister Sister wrote a tell-all piece for The Guardian speaking about online trolls. We had the pleasure of chatting with her, but first – let’s dive into her take on trolling.
The dangers of fame
Sister Sister shot straight to drag queen stardom since her time on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK this year. However, she wasn’t always familiar with the cost of fame, and unfortunately, alongside fans, she also received some hate from trolls following her debut.
Sister Sister first discusses a troll called Simon in Bedfordshire, England, and how she dealt with the rude comments. After the troll sends her, “You should change your name to Munter Munter because that’s what you are.”
The drag queen ends up responding: “In a fleeting moment of bravery, I decide to break with my first rule of troll-handling: DO NOT RESPOND. Instead I type: “Hi Simon, hope you’re well. Out of interest, why did you choose to message me today?” A few seconds pass and Simon starts typing back. “No hard feelings mate, you’re in the public eye, you have to be able to take it. Also omg didn’t think you’d see this.””
We also got to hear about Sister Sister’s reaction to hearing the call about her invitation to join season 2 of Drag Race UK. But, the inevitable fallout from appearing on reality TV didn’t take long to hit the drag queen after the show’s debut.
“Trolling, or the creation of discord online, unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with reality TV. There is an apparent level of toxic inclusion that some online communities and individuals lust for when they view the show.” Online hate can be ten times worse than real life because of the protection of screens.
Drag Race star Sister Sister is still trying to learn how to deal with the hate. “There’s a simple message that’s as old as water: If you don’t have anything nice to tweet then don’t tweet anything at all. Leave the drama to the experts on TV.” We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves.
Sister Sister has arrived
During her exit interview with us, we had to get the dish on how Sister Sister’s fighting back against the trolls online. Unsurprisingly, Sister Sister has found the response to her article comforting.
“It’s like safety in numbers. I feel like I’ve recruited my own little army as well, and it’s basically just everyone’s who’s like mind. No one’s doing anything phenomenal, they’re all just saying ‘Yeah, this thing exists. And we need to talk about.’ That in itself is phenomenal.” she told us.
Sadly Sister Sister didn’t write the Guardian article in some big show of standing up to bullies, but just because she was in a dark place and needed to speak her truth. “I realize that I had had enough on Thursday as soon as the episode had gone up. I just kept seeing the tweets coming in and, like I describe in the article, it felt like a wall of hate.”
At the end of the day, Sister Sister has one simple message for the trolls online: think before you tweet. “Just consider the power of your words, and just be ready to take responsibility for them. As a human being, that’s all you can do: take responsibility for it. These words have consequences.”
—
Drag Race UK airs Thursdays on BBC Three in the UK and on WOWPresents Plus in the U.S. & other select territories.
