Ahead of her appearance at Mother’s Pride Block Party this weekend, GCN sat down with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6 winner Bianca Del Rio to discuss Ireland, Pride, and a plethora of upcoming projects from the drag icon. 

Del Rio shared her excitement about returning to Dublin, where she will be hosting the Main Stage at Mother’s Pride Block Party on Friday June 23. 

“Im looking forward to coming back!” Del Rio shared. “Anytime that I head over to Dublin I need about six days after to recover, but I am looking forward to it. I am here to treat myself. After all, it is Pride!”

The theme of Dublin’s 2023 Pride festival is “Protest. Remember. Celebrate”. When asked her thoughts on the theme for this year’s Pride, the drag queen told GCN, “I think that Pride should always be a protest. I think any minute that we sit back and settle and think, ‘Oh my life is set’, there’s always a group, there’s always an individual, there’s always a situation that is being attacked, or rights are being taken away.”

Del Rio’s comments reflect a harsh reality, considering the increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation worldwide, as well as the rise of hate violence globally, including here in Ireland. 

“It’s insanity that we’re at this point in the world, or at this point in our lives, where we’re having this discussion about our rights,” Del Rio continued. “Literally rights, rights. Rights shouldn’t be up for discussion. These are my rights as a human being, my rights as an individual on the face of this Earth. So it’s a little taxing for me to think that we wouldn’t protest. We must. We must. We must. It begins with visibility, to remind people that we’re not going anywhere. We’re not trying to change the world on the level of imposing on their lives, we’re just looking to be treated fairly and equally, which is why I think Pride is always a protest.” 

“It blows my mind because I started drag in the 1990s, and little did I think that we would get to this point where we’re back to square one almost – almost. You know, people say ‘it gets better’, I hope it gets better, and we have to keep fighting, we can’t get lackadaisy and sit back and think ,’We’re set and we’re all good and can go and wear our rainbow flags’. It’s basically now a stamp for us to stay, we’re here, we’re not going anywhere, and we need to fight for what’s fair. It’s not even about what’s right, it’s about what’s fair, because ‘they’ may not see it as right, which is not my discussion, I’m not here to change their minds, I’m just here to be treated fairly,” she added. 

Del Rio suggested that part of why things seem so grim for the LGBTQ+ community now, compared to a decade ago, is partly due to an increased awareness of the state of LGBTQ+ rights globally thanks to social media. 

“The amplification of social media has allowed us to become a little bit more aware of [homophobic] instances, situations, and scenarios that are happening. I remember we would read the newspaper, we would watch the news, but now it’s at your fingertips 24/7, I think it put things in perspective that there’s so much more happening all at once. And now that we have access to it, it kind of is alarming on a certain level where you’re reading and it’s like ‘what? This happened today? This happened yesterday?’”

 

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Despite the troubling state of LGBTQ+ rights in Ireland, the US, and indeed worldwide, Bianca reiterated her excitement about returning to Dublin for the Mother Block Party. 

“It’s nice to actually get a minute there. I get probably an additional two days [in Dublin] which is a big deal in a drag queen’s world. Usually, I’m in, I do my show, and I’m off to the next city. As I said before, it’s always a treat to go to Dublin because the queens, and the gays, and the community are just so lovely. I think mainly because you guys know how to drink! So that helps tremendously. But I always need a couple of days to recover, I always contemplate my life on a flight or on a bus leaving Dublin, thinking ‘Woah, this is wild. I need to go take a minute and gather my thoughts’. I’m looking forward to celebrating and having a good time, but also to protesting and showing our Pride!” Del Rio shared. 

The stand-up comedian’s last trip to Dublin was in 2022, as a stop on her Unsanitized world tour. With no new stand-up tour slotted for 2023, GCN asked if the drag legend had any plans to tour again in the near future. 

“Yes, yes, yes, yes! In 2024!” she responded.  “This year I had taken a break from touring because I had some other projects that I was working on, but in 2024 I will be touring again!”

Never one to turn away from throwing a bit of shade at her fellow performers, Del Rio added: “I mean, I had to be fair, I knew that Beyonce and Madonna were gonna be on the road, so I thought, you know what, let them make some money and let me stay home, because you know how I take money away from them when I’m on the road, so I figured I’d let them have their moment to shine.”

In addition to an upcoming tour, Del Rio also shared with GCN that she is planning to revive her podcast The Bianca Del Rio Podcast, which has not seen a new episode since 2021. 

Bianca Del Rio Leads @Hulu‘s ‘Pride Never Stops’ Initiative @ILoveLGBTPride – Bianca Del Rio, winner of “Drag Race” Season 6 and host of “The Pit Stop,” will lead Hulu’s new #PrideNeverStops pass the mic campaign. @TheBiancaDelRiohttps://t.co/pYJYMbJx8i pic.twitter.com/LukDUonSp0

— #ILoveGay TV ? (@ILoveGayTV) June 21, 2023

“We’ve been talking about it. We were dealing with a certain distributor and then all that kind of fell through, AND, scheduling for it was kind of problematic for me when I was touring. It’s very hard to commit to a schedule with trying to record interviews with people when you’re travelling, and you don’t know when you’ll have Wi-fi, and you have connection flights and buses and all of that madness. So it was a little difficult when I was out on the road, and I was on the road for over 13 months, so scheduling didn’t work out. We’re in talks now for 2024 to actually bring it back, we’re just figuring out the loopholes of time, because if you record too many in advance, then politically and in the world, the culture and things change so quickly. You have to kind of be on top of it, so we’re looking at an easier schedule for next year. So fingers crossed that it all works out.”

Fans of the Drag Race winner who have been keeping up with the queen will know that she has been keeping busy hosting The Pit Stop, an official recap show for RuPaul’s Drag Race. Del Rio hosted the Youtube series re-capping Season 15 of Drag Race earlier this year, and is currently hosting for Season 8 of All Stars alongside a number of Drag Race alumni. 

When asked about her thoughts on the current season of All Stars, Del Rio told GCN: “Well it’s interesting because I did Drag Race now 9 years ago, we filmed in 2013, so it was 10 years ago that we filmed it, but it aired in 2014, and I have not kept up with any season since. So Season 15 and All Star 8 was the first time that I was actually watching the show again, mainly because they were paying me. So I’ve not been watching anything closely until these last two seasons. It’s wild for me and I see why it’s so addictive for people and I see why people are so fascinated by it, and I’ve enjoyed it. Mainly All Stars, because the majority of the queens are friends of mine and are people that I’ve known for quite some time.”

When asked if she had any thoughts on who might take home the All Stars 8 crown, Del Rio wanted to keep things hush hush. 

“You have to remember,” she began. “I’ve filmed a couple of the episodes ahead of time, so I’m a couple of episodes ahead of everyone right now. So I don’t want to say anything about anyone in particular that I like, because I don’t remember what actually aired last week. So, I think they’re all doing great, that’s as vague as I can be. It would be just my luck to say the wrong thing. But it is crazy, because sometimes I’m filming two episodes a day, so I have no idea what episode we’re on, or who’s still there. So I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else. What I will say is that [the season] is pretty interesting when it gets down to the end, so I will leave you with that blind item.”

I WAS BORN IN 1923 ? pic.twitter.com/Ekf3VRCCML

— Bianca Del Rio (@TheBiancaDelRio) June 19, 2023

Speaking of All Stars, we couldn’t resist asking Bianca if there was any chance we’d be seeing her on an upcoming ‘all-winners’ season of Drag Race after All Stars 7 left fans clamoring for more winners to return to the franchise to compete. 

“Absolutely – not!” shared the Pit Stop host. “I often tell people this, I had a lovely experience when I did it 10 years ago, but 10 years ago I was 37-38 years old, and I was barely fun then, so I doubt I would be any more fun at this point in my life. But truly, it’s an amazing platform to get to be a part of, but they don’t need me. They have about 9,000 other queens that they can choose from at this particular point in time. People say ‘Would you go back?’ and I say, ‘Would you go back to high school?’ No! I had a lovely experience, but you don’t go and rob the same bank twice. So, I’m good. I got away with it successfully the first time, but I don’t know if I have it in me to go back and do it again.”

“But you know, who knows, who knows?” Del Rio teased. 

Before signing off, Del Rio plugged her latest project, the Hulu original series Drag Me To Dinner. In the series, two teams of successful drag queens compete head-to-head to see who can throw the most “drag-tastical” dinner party. Del Rio served as a judge for the series, alongside Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. 

“I know Hulu is not available in the UK and Ireland, but hopefully Drag Me To Dinner can work its way out here as well. It’s playing in America right now, but fingers crossed it makes it over here. There’s gotta be some loophole way you can stream and watch it over here.” Del Rio concluded. 

You can catch Bianca Del Rio, as well as other Drag Race stars like Naomi Smalls, Raja Gemini, and Bimini Bon Boulash at this weekend’s Mother Pride Block Party! They will be joined by Dublin’s tremendous local drag talent, Mother DJs, and much, much more. To learn more and to snatch tickets for the Block Party, head over to their website.