Rupaul appears to respond to Tyra’s vile The Vivienne joke

Following the death of Drag Race UK season one winner, The Vivienne, on Sunday (5 January), fellow Drag Race alum Tyra, formerly known as King Tyra and Tyra Sanchez, took to X to share a vile joke mocking the tragedy.

Tyra prompted outrage by resharing one of The Vivienne’s X/Twitter posts from 2020.

“Bet Tyra was fuming when she realised Netflix spoiled the win too. Sorry gal. You tried though,” The Vivienne wrote in July 2020, referring to the streaming giant using a photo of Shea Couleé with her All Stars 5 crown to promote the season’s finale.

Reposting the tweet following The Vivienne’s passing, Tyra wrote: “Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium.” The comment was branded “twisted” and “nasty” by Drag Race fans and stars of the reality competition, with two-time finalist Kandy Muse calling Tyra a “disgusting person.”

“I’ve defended you for years but now you can absolutely go f**k yourself and if our path were to ever cross it’s absolutely on sight b***h, it’s not a threat it’s a promise. You disgusting person,” Kandy replied.

The Vivienne’s death was confirmed on Sunday (5 January) by her publicist Simon Jones, who paid tribute to his “incredibly loved” client and “close friend”. The drag artist, whose real name was James Lee Williams, was just 32-years-old.

RuPaul was amongst many celebrities and Drag Race icons to share tributes to The Vivienne. “With a broken heart, I join the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne,” RuPaul wrote in a statement on Instagram, posted alongside a photo of herself and Williams on the Drag Race main stage, taken prior to their appearance on the UK spin-off in 2019.

Now, RuPaul has taken to Instagram again, to share a clip that shows the queen of drag slapping Tyra around the face during an “Acting Chops” challenge in season two, episode 11.

The video was shared without a caption, or any reference to recent events, but nonetheless people immediately took it to be a response to Tyra’s incredibly callous comment about The Vivienne.

People immediately flooded the comments with supportive messages, including Kandy Muse, who was the first to reply, writing, simply, “MOTHER.”

Another person wrote: “Omg!!!! Viv is somewhere cackling at this.”

A third responded to recent suggestions that Tyra should be stripped of her Drag Race title because of her behaviour: “Ok mama but are you gonna take that crown back tho?”

In the original statement announcing The Vivienne’s death, publicist Simon Jones said no further details regarding the circumstances would be released, and asked for time and privacy for her family to grieve.

PinkNews has reached out to representatives of RuPaul for comment.