Update: 'Drag Race's Pearl Blackface Accusations Explained

Pearl started the day sharing a “character” with the world.

On Thursday, August 10, RuPaul’s Drag Race season seven finalist Pearl shared an Instagram carousel of pictures of herself using what appears to be a filter that deeply tanned her skin and added voluptuous lips and huge pink nails to her body. She also held a cup of iced coffee in her hand, writing in the caption: “Skipper’s all grown up now.”

Pearl’s now-deleted Instagram post was quickly re-shared all over social media, including Reddit, where a new thread was started with the title, “This feels wrong.” Drag Race fans immediately took to Instagram comments, Reddit comments, and X (formerly Twitter) posts to share their reactions. Many fans accused the queen of doing “blackface” and/or “blackfishing,” though others counter-argued that she wasn’t doing those things.

A comment from Tayce, best known for competing on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season two, was also re-posted on Reddit. “Sooo much to unpack here and I’m so here for it,” Tayce wrote in a comment.

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Silky Nutmeg Ganache from Drag Race season 11, All Stars 6, and Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World also chimed in with an X post that read, “RuPaul should’ve just talked to her off-camera because now she’s mocking RuPaul in her younger years.”