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American Dad's Roger Is Now Considered A 'Drag Hero'
Drag queens Trixie Mattel and Trinity the Tuck celebrate the 350th episode of American Dad by hailing Roger the alien a “drag hero.”
When you think of famous drag icons you may be imagining Divine, Lady Bunny, or RuPaul. Now, you should also be adding Roger Smith, the alien from American Dad, to that list.
To celebrate the 350th episode of the long-running animated comedy, Drag Race winners Trixie Mattel and Trinity the Tuck have dubbed Roger a “drag hero” – a title that the little gray alien has rightly earned by dressing in drag for fun or to get out of sticky situations over the years.
Mattel and Tuck created a video for TBS as part of a social media campaign to commemorate this momentous occasion. For every quote tweet the queens’ video gets with the hashtag #AmericanDrag, the network will donate $1 to the LGBTQ+ non-profit organization The Trevor Project, up to $20,000 total.
In the video Mattel says Roger has been in drag “too many times to count” and Tuck describes him as a “true queen” who has “glammed herself in and out of trouble, all while setting trends and stealing mens.”
To mark the 350th episode of American Dad, Roger is finally being honored as a drag icon! Help us celebrate drag herstory by raising money for the @TrevorProject. For every quote-tweet this video gets using #AmericanDrag, @TBSNetwork will donate $1 to @TrevorProject (up to $20k). pic.twitter.com/u78l6den2n
— American Dad (@AmericanDadTBS) May 8, 2023
Roger has dressed up as everything from wedding planner Jeanie Gold to Syntho Corp employee Lauren Vanderbooben, and even as Mary Tyler Moore. Overall, he slays with every look.
But Roger isn’t done dressing in drag yet. “On top of all this,” Mattel goes on to say, “the fans have decided that Roger should embrace his inner queen with her next persona. Ladies and gentlemen: Gelatiné Lychee.”
Before the 350th episode aired on Monday, the show held a #TheNextRoger competition where fans of the show submitted artwork and backstories for Roger’s next drag look. Instagram user @codfac won with a “sassy drag queen” named Gelatiné Lychee who hosts “a popular podcast about breakfast and blowjobs.”
VOTING OPEN! Here are the finalists for #TheNextRoger. Head to https://t.co/JOVi7i7KLs to vote for who should appear in the next season of #AmericanDad. pic.twitter.com/An24wORw5G
— American Dad (@AmericanDadTBS) April 17, 2023
With the unprecedented onslaught of anit-LGBTQ+ legislation sweeping the nation, it feels like an act of rebellion to celebrate every moment of queer joy — even the silly ones.
Roger the Alien is based on E.T. from Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
