The season three premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under is only nine days away — crikey!
Soccer player Josh Cavallo is joining Drag Race Down Under as a guest judge for the upcoming season of the Australian version of the uber-popular drag competition show.
The 23-year-old footballer came out in 2021, becoming the only currently playing top-flight male soccer player to be openly queer. The sport has a troubling history of bigotry and still to this day homophobic chants are frequently repeated by fans during matches.
In fact, homophobia seems to be on the rise in professional soccer. During the 2022-2023 season, there was a 65.1 percent rise in incidents of discriminatory behavior from the previous season and in the professional game there was an increase of 27.4 percent.
But Cavallo isn’t letting that stop him from living his best gay life and nabbing a coveted guest judge spot on everyone’s favorite drag franchise.
Arrrrr you ready, racers? 🏴☠️ Here’s your first look at #DragRaceDownUnder Season 3, premiering July 28 WORLDWIDE: https://t.co/vfLuMfOqLy
— WOW Presents Plus (@wowpresentsplus) July 18, 2023
Here’s where to watch:
🌎 @wowpresentsplus (worldwide ex. UK and Down Under)
🇦🇺 @stanaustralia
🇳🇿 @tvnz pic.twitter.com/Zn3icsT6Lw
“As the only openly gay male professional footballer currently playing top-flight football in the world, I’m a big fan of embracing your true self, but for many in sport and the queer community this is really difficult to do,” Cavallo said in a statement.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race is so important, because it inspires queer people to be their authentic self, and allows drag to become more accepted and celebrated as it should be.”
Other guest judges include notable queer faves like pop star Adam Lambert, actor Keiynan Lonsdale, singer Deva Mahal, former Miss Universe Australia Maria Thattil, Amyl and the Sniffers frontwoman Amy Taylor, and supermodel Rachel Hunter.
Drag Race Down Under season 3 premieres on July 29 on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and select territories worldwide, with its local airing on TVNZ+ in New Zealand and Stan in Australia.
