Discord Addams says being on “Drag Race” has been surreal. It exceeded all of her expectations. But, it’s also been an unexpected roller coaster ride of emotions and fan-based frustrations.
“I’ve been wanting this for over 10, 13 years,” Addams says. “And for the dream to finally become reality and for it to be an incredible experience on top of it, like, words can’t describe your dreams actually being real. And also, being better than you even anticipated. Also, I’m pleasantly surprised.”
Over her career, the Ohio native has lived and worked in Chicago and Atlanta, and now resides in St. Petersburg, Florida. Like many of her counterparts, she has a wealth of experience. She thought that might be a detriment when it came to her castmates, but it turned out to be the complete opposite.
“This group of girls gave me so much light and confidence, and just, of course, everybody talks about the sisterhood, you know, and everything, but, like, girl, it is real,” Addams says. “These relationships are going to be forever, and that was, like, kind of shocking. I was expecting to come in and just kind of, like, you know, bulldoze everybody. And like, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, these are my best friends now.’ I don’t know what to say.”
Like her Seattle sister, Addams was shocked by how many queens were not only over 25 but in their thirties. She recalls thinking, “Oh, wait, there’s maturity here. The entire time, I was like, ‘I’m gonna be the oldest bitch on the season.’ They were calling Lexi Love, Grandma, last year, so I was like, ‘Grandma Discord’s coming through.’ And then I looked around, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, everyone’s my age, everyone’s been doing drag for at least 10 years. We’ve all been doing drag from a time when drag was the inspiration, and ‘Drag Race’ wasn’t the inspiration.’ And that creates such a refreshing point of view from each individual contestant.”
Describing herself as a “punk rock diva,” Addams admits any musical challenge was her biggest concern.
Like, the musical challenge with 100% my my biggest concern. I was like, oh,
“Like, I’m good at what I do, like, in terms of dancing and moving, but, like, I’m not, like, a theatrical, like, choreography girl. I’m in a rock band,” Addams says. “So, having to translate what I do into full-blown musical choreography. I was like, ‘That’s gonna be scary.’ And I was worried about it the entire time that I was preparing for the show. Also, are there like three choreographers in the cast, too?”
Addams continues, “The problem with this cast is that everyone is good at everything. Usually, you have one girl who’s got this, one girl’s got this, but everyone can do everything. And I was like, well, ‘That’s gonna be it then. That’s gonna be a fun time.’ But it’s also really good to be able to say you’re competing against the best and the best. And that’s what I felt like happened here.”
Perhaps the only other reality program fanbase fixated on spoilers and cast reveals as much as the global “Drag Race” fandom is “Big Brother.” That being said, rumors in the online community can spiral. And, before you know it, false tea has been across all platforms of social media, from Reddit to TikTok to YouTube, and so on. When Addams’ sequester ended, and she was given her phone back, she made a horrific discovery. She had been accused of being a racist and being disqualified during production. This was in June. Addams could not respond to the claims publicly until the cast was announced in December.
“It was really upsetting because I’ve dedicated my entire drag life, dedicated my entire life. Like, since, even way back in high school, to being a loud punk rock motherf**ker, which means to being against racism, against transphobia, against bigotry of any kind,” Addams says. “And I feel like my social media presence has shown that from the time I downloaded MySpace till today. So, if people just took four seconds to scroll down any piece of my existence on the internet, they would realize I am not this racist. I am not this piece of s**t who was disqualified over rumors that can’t even be substantiated.”
Addams continues, “Everyone’s like, ‘What did she do?’ And nobody can actually show anything. And I think there’s something to say about the misinformation that is being spread on Reddit across the board. This doesn’t just happen to me. I’m not the only victim of, not even, I wouldn’t even say victim. I’m not the only person that this has happened to in life. We’ve seen it happen with Plane Jane. We’ve seen it happen over and over again. I call it the magnification of social media. Inherently progressive people are still surrounded by conservative bots. And I feel like the internet engages with rage bait. And the more you see rage bait every day, the more your brain gets trained to act that way yourself, even if it’s against your natural nature. And so all of these kids who are, like, 14 on the internet, it feels like they hate drag. I’ve seen nasty things get said about every single one of the girls on the cast, not just me. I will say the thing that happened with me has definitely impacted my happiness on the internet, especially not being able to say anything, and having people really genuinely believe I’m this nasty, nasty person. Of course, it’s been upsetting, but I want this to stop for everybody. I want them to stop calling my sisters names. I want them to stop spreading misinformation, because it’s become this weird game of telephone, where every day I learned something new that I did that I never did.”
And, sadly, it still hasn’t ended for Addams. She’s still being attacked by random “fans” online for no other reason than the proliferation of the initial false claim against her.
“One day, it’s an eyelash curler that I fought somebody over,” She shares. “One day, it’s that RuPaul decided I was racist. One day, it’s that I hit somebody in the werkroom. One day, I hit Athena. It’s something new every day. When does it end? And can’t you guys just enjoy the show and enjoy the fact that queer people can represent themselves on such a mainstream platform? The entire government is coming against us every single day, and they are the villains. And it’s so sad to watch the community divide and conquer itself when we have real enemies at bay that actually need to be taken care of.”
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Addams is seeing sentiment change slightly even before the first episode aired.
“I am starting to see people being like, ‘Oh, yeah, Discord is cool.’ But I’m also still seeing people just trying to find new reasons to hate me,” Addams admits. “It’s like they almost don’t want to admit that maybe I wasn’t right about this, or maybe this wasn’t true. And it’s just like ‘Can’t she just say she’s not racist?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, no, I am not racist.’ I shouldn’t have to say that because I felt like my social media presence would have shown that on its own. I am constantly at Black Lives Matter protests. I am constantly donating to many different organizations, but it’s weird to post that on the internet and be like, ‘O.K., I donated today.’ ‘Hey, I was at this march today’ because, like, I’m not trying to get Klout out of that. I’m doing this because it is the right thing to do. And talking about it online makes it feel like I’m looking for something out of it, and I’m not. I just want the world to be better.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs Fridays on MTV at 8 PM ET/PT
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