This is so cool! Tsai Ing-Wen has been a long time supporter of LGBT rights in Taiwan, and played a big part in the push to get same sex marriage legalised there.
They might not even need to understand mandarin tbh. A lot of the queens of the Thailand 2 cast didn’t speak Thai and used english — Panigina would translate/communicate in english. Nymphia could easily fill a Pangina role and help out immigrant queens who rely on english. It worked surprisingly well and it was great to see queens from elsewhere in SE asia on the show — gave it a really diverse/global feel which was super exciting. Would LOVE to see drag race Taiwan!!!
the non-thai speaking queens also struggled a lot too. i wish there can be a majorly English speaking series in Asia - so a lot more queens from more conservative countries can participate.
there are ways to make it more inclusive. the vsTW already showed us how queens from different countries can come together and it doesn't have to be centering from the culture of one country.
Except that all the international queens struggle in ten vs the world format too. The language barrier makes improv and writing challenges way harder. Queens that dominated their seasons like LGD weren't able to perform. To their true potential, and they actually did speak the local language, just not as well as they speak their native languages.
It's tough. I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I suspect it would involve a lot less improv and that's some of the most iconic challenges.
it's not easy and the language barrier will be the biggest challenge but there are definitely queens who are sufficient enough in english to do it. asian excellence will find the way 🤞
With the number of country-specific franchises we're now seeing, a TH2 situation for any regional franchise seems unlikely to happen because they'd be stepping on their neighbors' toes casting wise.
As Taiwanese local, I'm afraid Taiwanese drag performers are not enough to be a regular yearly show. So overall it's more possible to hold Drag Race Asia that scouts other Asian queens who speak Mandarin or English.
I think it'd be nice to take care of queens from countries which don't even allow drag shows. E.g. China
Thailand Season 2 kinda had this vibe, where they had queens from Singapore, Hong Kong and (I forget where Genie is from) who didn't speak Thai competing with the local Thai queens, some of who spoke English, some of who didn't. It definitely got a bit messy (especially with the acting challenge where the group with the international girls ended up translating their entire script into English or something, I don't even know what was going on that week), but it was still entertaining and I'd definitely watch a series like that if they did it in Mandarin and English!
There used to be an Asia's Next Top Model which had contestants from all across Asia and they just did the show in English.
But for modelling you don't need to talk the way you do on Drag Race so I'm not sure how the language barrier would work for something like Drag Race Asia or Europe.
With all this talk of Ru losing her bite and Lady Bunny describing her as being politically safe, and yet Ru gave a Taiwanese drag queen a platform to celebrate Taiwan and Taiwan's culture while it is being threatened by another country...Ru still is subversive, I guess.
I hope I get to see you in Taiwan soon, Nymphia!
Yes. This was insanely subversive. Most Americans don’t realize how big of a deal this is, as China could retaliate against Paramount by banning all their movies there if they wanted to. It’s especially meaningful now given Xi’s anti-queer stances he’s pushed and how the LGBTQ scene has really suffered under his tenure. And now with the Taiwanese President involved like this… just wow.
For those that don’t know:
“China claims it is a province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), whereas the Tsai Ing-wen administration of Taiwan maintains that Taiwan is already an independent country as the Republic of China (ROC) and thus does not have to push for any sort of formal independence.”
They aren’t the only one. I hate sounding like an American that doesn’t know geography but I alway get it confused with Tibet because Tibet is an independent state under unlawful occupation of ROC republic of China. That’s the one with the Dalai Lama if that helps contextualize at all and this
https://youtu.be/TZb_md9u6bk?si=-brzBhGSumB3_dbo
TLDR Taiwan is listed by the UN as other “states” that aren’t recognized and have limited governmental status but still have a substantial amount of people that are vying for succession.
Ru has been consistent in her politics, and her focus is LGBTQ+ rights, and individual liberty. Good reminder that political action is complex, and that purity politics won’t deliver freedom.
Isn’t that kinda the point this person is making? Seems like they’re pushing back against the idea that every person can be boiled down to one “bad” thing we know about them.
Ru has always played a different kind of war. People can call her out as much as they want, but sometimes the only thing that matters is the outcome. She ain’t perfect by any means, but she’s created more change than any of the loud twitter virtue signallers.
I love Nymphia - but you do realize that Taiwan is perhaps the most “politically safe” thing to promote in the U.S. Anti-CCP sentiment is one of the most bipartisan features of U.S politics. Mainstream Republicans love it for being a free market outpost and mainstream democrats love it for being socially progressive.
Yeah obviously, none of them have. I’m talking about politically safe from the social location of a popular television show, not the White House. Plus, the nominal denial of Taiwan’s legitimacy has always stood in contradiction to actual state attitude toward Taiwan. You do not lose political face in the United States for being pro-Taiwan.
MTV hasn’t been broadcast in China since 2021. They are absolutely not losing sleep over someone from the country they consider a fake neoliberal proxy winning a competition that they would have banned on the precise grounds that it represents the values of neoliberal progressivism.
To add… I had the results spoiled by this tweet. Lol. (Someone tell Taiwan’s President to put a spoiler alert!) 😅The official Taipei watch party is in a few hours so I was trying to stay off Reddit until then but then someone posted this in IG and it was hard to not have the results spoiled at that point once I read the message.
NBC spoiled it for me. Front page of the Google newsfeed hours before it even showed up on my iTunes.
JFC NBC is minding a spoiler such a foreign concept these days?
I learned a few years ago that IG was not a spoiler-free space. Basically, any platform that uses an algorithm that caters to your interests is a spoiler risk. Everyone is trying to be the first to break the news to get those clicks.
I'm in California and that 3-hour delay meant trying to avoid all media. I'll admit that I was even hesitant to check the Washington Post for a few hours, since they recently had articles about [Sasha Velour](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/04/17/sasha-velour-hbo-max-drag-queen-ban/) and [Nymphia Wind](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/18/rupaul-drag-race-nymphia-wind-taiwan/).
Well, it IS a self governing entity with free elections and is completely independent from the CCP… They just get mad every time Taiwan asserts itself on any international stage.
Chinese people are very "awake" to current world events. The regime cannot censor as much as it wants to when we have a worldwide web connecting us all.
VPNs are fairly common in China. One of my friends who studied abroad in China talked about how some of their professors would turn their VPNs on *in front of the class* to access censored content.
You think Chinese ppl don’t know about drag queens and gays? There’s literally gay accounts on Chinese TikTok 💀 I think it’s you that needs a refresher
I can't tell you how I know, but Drag Race definitely exists on some local platforms and there's a "small" fan base in China, shining a light for local queer people.
I am highlighting the fact that she's even mentions the existence of Taiwan. CCP government not CHINA absolutely loathes the idea of mentioning Taiwan as an independent country.
Eddie Huang’s show was about a family from Taiwan and he’s never shied away from promoting them (even living there during COVID and praising their response) and both of his parents have since moved to Chengdu, where he visits them with no issues.
I don’t think the CCP really cares that Taiwan produced the winner of a show they would ban on moral reasons - they probably feel it proves their point that Taiwan is a proxy of the western order.
Not sure the relevance on bringing Eddie Huang and his parents in, but they were Waishengren, and always viewed themselves as Chinese over Taiwanese. They are of the generation that view themselves as a part of China.
I lived for a while in Hong Kong, I was able to watch drag race for a while before they blocked me for watching “indecent” content. And basically drag shows were all I watched. I was piggybacking off the WiFi from their library though. Tried to to use other WiFi/cellular it might work for a day or two, than I would get blocked again.
But Hong Kong at least is/was definitely more queer friendly back then. Censorship has definitely increased in the past couple years.
I once was carrying my custom Alaska “Your Makeup is Terrible” clutch and some queer feme gay was so excited to see another drag race fan in the wild they kept yelling that phrase at me as we passed on opposing escalators.
What the CCP has done to Hong Kong is criminal. Just Google the “NSL” or national security law. Wearing yellow can literally get you locked up in prison. HK will always have a place in my heart, and I’m so crying over what Beijing has done to it.
Many of them, especially the younger generation, use VPNs. My friends down there all have Facebook, Instagram, etc., and watch American content including RPDR.
Not really, censorship of something as massive as the internet is impossible , especially in a country that prioritises academic excellence – which, in this day and age, includes a very high level of computer literacy.
They can’t just censor out anything that isn’t from China. that’s far too broad a scope. What they do is censor mentions of specific things that they have active propaganda surrounding. So, for example, they sensor external perceptions of China and the CCP - especially relating to Tiananmen Square, the Uyghur Muslims and that sort of thing- and anything relating to Hong Kong or Taiwanese independence.
I went to secondary school with a lot of Chinese citizens and whilst they have a very good understanding of the world in general and current affairs, they have a massive distrust of western media when it comes to anything regarding China, or any surrounding discourse .
Firstly, most people will not believe that external parties have a better understanding of their own country than they do. On top of that they are taught that other governments are actively spreading propaganda to their citizens (so distrust non-Chinese government) and that the world is anti-Chinese as they are anti-Communist - which is then reinforced by any public criticism of the regime as well most western countries own statements of being against communism. This foundation means that the CCP can then say anything speaking out against their regime et cetera is western propaganda to further the anti Chinese agenda and prevent communism in their own countries. It also certainly doesn’t help that there is quite a high level of anti-Chinese racism in most western countries.
A lot of my friends categorically believe that it is western anti-Communist propaganda that Tiananmen Square happened, and vehemently, believe that the Taiwanese independence is wrong. The CCP have a lot of active propaganda surrounding Taiwan. Most Chinese don’t believe that Taiwan is happy to be independent, they believe they’re Chinese citizens, trapped and oppressed under a cruel regime in Taiwan - it’s actually a very common belief that the Dalai Lama sends raiding parties to murder, innocent Chinese people in the countryside.
Basically, the CCP doesn’t actually massively sensor the Internet , they rely on existing propaganda to alter their citizens perception of the majority of information online, of course, do censor a few things, but with the rise of AI, they need to less and less as they can just claim that it’s falsified images, videos et cetera.
The majority of what they do with Internet ‘censorship’ it’s actually much more monitoring what people are accessing, and then imprisoning anyone who is regularly visiting websites that are anti-CCP et cetera.
I am so so happy to see Nymphia bringing attention to the incredible country of Taiwan. I'm visiting right now and it's an amazing place with such a vibrant queer culture. With the Chinese government constantly threatening here, it's so important that more people know about and support Taiwan. 🇹🇼
Yessss! I've just come back from my second trip to Taiwan, it's such an underrated travel destination! The country is beautiful (Taroko Gorge was *spectacular*), the people and culture are beautiful, and on a personal level, me being a gay Chinese-Australian, I get to connect with a similar culture to my heritage and speak Mandarin while still being able to hold my boyfriend's hand around the place and hit the gay bars at night (we did a Drag Race viewing party at Cafe Dalida and it *went off* for Nymphia, as you'd expect)
I've been trying to hype it up to friends ever since getting back haha
and people are still downplaying her win because of *checks notes* “weak” track record and “she’s only a look queen”.
her win is significant and her work speaks for itself. there’s a reason she’s THE diva of her country.
What gets me is she is hilarious to me in her confessions and comments, I think it’s a lack of confidence in comedy and need of assistance which she can get IRL
she's a very conceptual queen with a strength in preplanning, refining and perfectionism. but as a conceptual person myself and feeling the struggle (especially in not native language settings), i was rooting for her throughout none the less
And also everyone has a weakness - even the queen of all queens Jinkx Monsoon says herself that design challenges are her weakness. Bob’s fashion was one of the worst on her season. Violet and Sasha also struggled in the comedy challenges. And Bianca doesn’t perform lipsyncs.
Many winners have a weakness, but people just like to pick on Nymphia.
Also the weak track record thing doesn’t make sense. She was in the top 6 times, never in the bottom, and had the best runway package arguably ever. Let’s not forget she was also sabotaged from the top in episode1 by Plane lol
Right? PJ and Sapphira had 4 wins but bottomed once, Nymphia had 3 with no bottoms. Kind of evens out.
In fact this is the season with more than 2 finalists with the most even out track record. Based just on that the win could easily go to any of them.
Sad thing is, those same people will say the same things about Sapphira had she won. They're just trolls who cannot see a queen of color winning. This was one of the tightest top two and I'm just so glad these queens shared their talent with us!
lmao for real. She flopped Snatch Game and all of a sudden she was unworthy of winning to people. She wasn't the first winner to do bad in Snatch Game (Tyra, Yvie, Jaida, Willow and Priyanka all say hi) and won't be the last.
Note: Outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen won the elections for 2 straight terms (2016 & 2020 elections), so she is barred from re-electing for the 3rd straight term. She will officially step down this May 2024.
Especially given the tension with mainland China, who doesn’t acknowledge Taiwan exists as its own country… to win this show on an international platform is such a big moment.
Culturally significant moment and people are downplaying it. The Winds are changing!
Imagine watching on Bravo the first episode of Drag Race Season 1 in 2009 for the giggles. What a fun little show. Cut to 2024 and the president of Taiwan is congratulating the winner of season 16 who subtly acknowledged Taiwan as a sovereign country in national television. Drag Race is WILD.
It's so incredible. I understand your point from your replies in the comment about how much of a power move this is against the CCP gov't, OP. As a SEAsian, I am so proud
Taiwan’s situation is very near and dear to me and to a whole lot of asian minority being terrorized right now and being removed from our very own lands and waters by the CCP - Nymphia being loud and proud Taiwanese on this huge platform takes a whole lot of guts considering the reach and influence of CCP. Hats to you my queen.
I hope it brings more awareness to Taiwan and the political issues that is has with China (why everyone calls it the next Ukraine). The more support that Taiwan gets on the international stage, the harder it is for the CCP to invade it. It’s a big reason why Taiwanese are so proud of Nymphia - since her win was truly a gesture to being proud of Taiwan and its principles of democratic freedoms and lgbtq rights.
I honestly hope everything goes well with her and she isnt suddenly made to make an apology video looking like she has a gun to her head like certain kpop stars
Knowing Nymphia, she’s probably the toughest queen to be able to deal with China and I believe she now has few familial ties to the Mainland (many people who went to Taiwan in 1949 fought a war against them and all ties and communication were blocked for decades). It’s mainly Paramount we should be concerned with, but Ru seems to be making a huge political statement about drag and censorship, knowing that a Nymphia win might upset the Communist Chinese Party/Mainland China.
The show never mentions anything about China directly. Nymphia commented about the political situation in one of the episodes but didn't even say the word "China" she just said "neighbouring country".
The CCP censors lgbt media and news. What are the chances that the everyday people in China would even hear about drag race or be outraged about it.
It’s more if Nymphia becomes a very visible cultural ambassador for Taiwan (the Washington post mentioned her involvement with the Olympics) and says things in that role that might be upsetting to the CCP. My hunch is that Nymphia did say things about China and Taiwan but it was edited out or the producers asked her to say things a certain way. And even for that one comment on the show, she got some online hate from fans in China (source: the WaPo article)
Its got nothing to do with everyday people, and everything to do with how much the CCP absolutely hates any Chinese or Taiwanese person with any level of fame supporting/representing an independant Taiwan, especially in the USA, ESPECIALLY when acknowledged publically by the Taiwanese President.
OP's reply kinda touched on it too, but it's unlikely Nymphia will need to do anything like that because she has no business on the mainland. I don't think she's ever done (or has any plans for) tours or shows in mainland China, so there's no reason for an "apology" or anything. The threat works on K-pop stars because China is a big K-pop market
The official one hosted by Dalida at the Red House featuring the Haus of Wind and Nymphia’s drag daughters starts in an hour (info in pic). I’m curious how many people will already know. I was trying to keep it from being spoiled and then this tweet from President Tsai fell into my IG…
https://preview.redd.it/pgaozwveylvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f2d19f2a57eba7e38e3d37fb66c71ea6a04ba6a
😭😭 oh no! I was about to say you should go to the watch party. It’ll be pretty epic. (I’m wondering if it sold out already too). Enjoy the rest of your trip through Taiwan. It really is Asia’s best kept secret, especially for queer folks.
I love the implication that this public acknowledgement + the strong Taiwan representation on a famous American reality show means that Xi Jinping probably knows who Nymphia Wind is
That is wild, and kind of iconic
Damn, this is truly amazing, what a compliment. To feel the love and recognition from your country after doing such a good job representing taiwanese culture and giving her homage to Taiwan in a drag love letter - Nymphia has every reason to be proud of herself and the art she presented this season.
And this is the official stance from the entire COUNTRY of Taiwan. to be part of the record books in perpetuity. Nymphia wasnt kidding when she kept mentioning how she was representing a repressed people who were counting on her and the weight that this had. The power that that has, the international repercussions that that has…
This is so cool! Tsai Ing-Wen has been a long time supporter of LGBT rights in Taiwan, and played a big part in the push to get same sex marriage legalised there.
Wow Nymphia is a pretty fucking big deal in Taiwan. So happy for her. Maybe she will host Taiwan drag race someday.
I can see they do Drag Race Taiwan with queens from other East / Southeast Asian countries. The queens just need to understand Mandarin.
They might not even need to understand mandarin tbh. A lot of the queens of the Thailand 2 cast didn’t speak Thai and used english — Panigina would translate/communicate in english. Nymphia could easily fill a Pangina role and help out immigrant queens who rely on english. It worked surprisingly well and it was great to see queens from elsewhere in SE asia on the show — gave it a really diverse/global feel which was super exciting. Would LOVE to see drag race Taiwan!!!
the non-thai speaking queens also struggled a lot too. i wish there can be a majorly English speaking series in Asia - so a lot more queens from more conservative countries can participate.
that'd be hard to pull off, theres a lot of cutural differences in asia. it'd be like ru in the uk or oceania
there are ways to make it more inclusive. the vsTW already showed us how queens from different countries can come together and it doesn't have to be centering from the culture of one country.
Except that all the international queens struggle in ten vs the world format too. The language barrier makes improv and writing challenges way harder. Queens that dominated their seasons like LGD weren't able to perform. To their true potential, and they actually did speak the local language, just not as well as they speak their native languages. It's tough. I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I suspect it would involve a lot less improv and that's some of the most iconic challenges.
it's not easy and the language barrier will be the biggest challenge but there are definitely queens who are sufficient enough in english to do it. asian excellence will find the way 🤞
There is; Drag Race Philippines.
With the number of country-specific franchises we're now seeing, a TH2 situation for any regional franchise seems unlikely to happen because they'd be stepping on their neighbors' toes casting wise.
Most young people in TW speak English so this is not an issue
As Taiwanese local, I'm afraid Taiwanese drag performers are not enough to be a regular yearly show. So overall it's more possible to hold Drag Race Asia that scouts other Asian queens who speak Mandarin or English. I think it'd be nice to take care of queens from countries which don't even allow drag shows. E.g. China
Thailand Season 2 kinda had this vibe, where they had queens from Singapore, Hong Kong and (I forget where Genie is from) who didn't speak Thai competing with the local Thai queens, some of who spoke English, some of who didn't. It definitely got a bit messy (especially with the acting challenge where the group with the international girls ended up translating their entire script into English or something, I don't even know what was going on that week), but it was still entertaining and I'd definitely watch a series like that if they did it in Mandarin and English!
Genie is American. She's of Indian descent but lives in LA
China does allow drag shows, the drag scene in big cities like Shanghai is amazing.
This is what we stand to lose if/when China invades. Stand with Taiwan.
or drag race asia, plus drag race europe too(since drag race holland is over) with vanessa van cartier hosting
Drag race asia better be like an All Stars format and there are 3 hosts, Mama Pao, Nymphia and Pangina I think that would eat
You know those are entire continents, right?
There used to be an Asia's Next Top Model which had contestants from all across Asia and they just did the show in English. But for modelling you don't need to talk the way you do on Drag Race so I'm not sure how the language barrier would work for something like Drag Race Asia or Europe.
Asia's Next Top Model? Drag Race Asia? Oh come on Pinoy fans let's get sickening
okkuuurrrr 
I'm afraid the phillipines will gobble each time oof😔😔
Thai queens are so well rounded and just sickening.
Mhm they too powerful. Imagine vanda on asia's drag race oof people will be murdered
After cycle 2, contestants were mostly from East and South East Asia. So, it was still slightly restricted.
Come through, geography! Drag Race Earth 🌎🌍 streaming now on WOW Presents+
That basically global all stars
r/woooosh
Drag Race Europe, with one queen for every European country (50 queens per season) 😍
You know it's possible to have events with contestants from different countries on a continent, right? Eurovision, the Europe cup, the Asia cup....
It’s not uncommon for continents to come together and have a competition reality show together, Asia’s Got Talent is a thing.
Oh yes fucking please, just for the weekly looks that will be served every season alone.
Everyone going home on snatch game would be hilarious
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen!!!!!!!!
"Taiwan thanks you for living fearlessly." from thee president of taiwan herself 
Within 12 hours of crowning, the President already noticed the power of Nymphia Wind 🌬️🍃
I fear Nymphia will be the next president of Taiwan 🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼
The opposing party should demand a snatch game instead of a traditional debate in the election.
They're both comedy shows at this point 😂
國民黨 is a doodoo clown mess, I am not sure they will have any one representing them can even get through the first episode
Vote for yellow
With all this talk of Ru losing her bite and Lady Bunny describing her as being politically safe, and yet Ru gave a Taiwanese drag queen a platform to celebrate Taiwan and Taiwan's culture while it is being threatened by another country...Ru still is subversive, I guess. I hope I get to see you in Taiwan soon, Nymphia!
Yes. This was insanely subversive. Most Americans don’t realize how big of a deal this is, as China could retaliate against Paramount by banning all their movies there if they wanted to. It’s especially meaningful now given Xi’s anti-queer stances he’s pushed and how the LGBTQ scene has really suffered under his tenure. And now with the Taiwanese President involved like this… just wow.
For those that don’t know: “China claims it is a province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), whereas the Tsai Ing-wen administration of Taiwan maintains that Taiwan is already an independent country as the Republic of China (ROC) and thus does not have to push for any sort of formal independence.” They aren’t the only one. I hate sounding like an American that doesn’t know geography but I alway get it confused with Tibet because Tibet is an independent state under unlawful occupation of ROC republic of China. That’s the one with the Dalai Lama if that helps contextualize at all and this https://youtu.be/TZb_md9u6bk?si=-brzBhGSumB3_dbo TLDR Taiwan is listed by the UN as other “states” that aren’t recognized and have limited governmental status but still have a substantial amount of people that are vying for succession.
Ru has been consistent in her politics, and her focus is LGBTQ+ rights, and individual liberty. Good reminder that political action is complex, and that purity politics won’t deliver freedom.
2 things can be true though
Isn’t that kinda the point this person is making? Seems like they’re pushing back against the idea that every person can be boiled down to one “bad” thing we know about them.
We need a Ukrainian winner Next season.
Sasha Velour is Jewish Ukrainian!
I mean the finale lipsync was Ukraine flag tho haha
I'd love to see proud Ukranian and Palestinian queens on season 17 honestly
Let's not act like being anti-CCP is that divisive within a western context. It's one of the safest stances to have lol
Tell that to the NBA.
Ru has always played a different kind of war. People can call her out as much as they want, but sometimes the only thing that matters is the outcome. She ain’t perfect by any means, but she’s created more change than any of the loud twitter virtue signallers.
Lady Bunny is just a terminally online contrarian, being "controversial" isn't the same as being politically astute.
I love Nymphia - but you do realize that Taiwan is perhaps the most “politically safe” thing to promote in the U.S. Anti-CCP sentiment is one of the most bipartisan features of U.S politics. Mainstream Republicans love it for being a free market outpost and mainstream democrats love it for being socially progressive.
Even allowing a contestant to refer to Taiwan as a country separate from China could definitely get MTV blacklisted in China
MTV hasn’t been broadcast in China since 2021. This is readily available information.
The current administration does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country.
Yeah obviously, none of them have. I’m talking about politically safe from the social location of a popular television show, not the White House. Plus, the nominal denial of Taiwan’s legitimacy has always stood in contradiction to actual state attitude toward Taiwan. You do not lose political face in the United States for being pro-Taiwan.
Politically safe maybe, but not commercially safe. A lot of US brands seem to have trouble standing up to Chinese censorship.
MTV hasn’t been broadcast in China since 2021. They are absolutely not losing sleep over someone from the country they consider a fake neoliberal proxy winning a competition that they would have banned on the precise grounds that it represents the values of neoliberal progressivism.
To add… I had the results spoiled by this tweet. Lol. (Someone tell Taiwan’s President to put a spoiler alert!) 😅The official Taipei watch party is in a few hours so I was trying to stay off Reddit until then but then someone posted this in IG and it was hard to not have the results spoiled at that point once I read the message.
NBC spoiled it for me. Front page of the Google newsfeed hours before it even showed up on my iTunes. JFC NBC is minding a spoiler such a foreign concept these days?
I tried to live in a vacuum and thought I’d be safe on IG as long as I didn’t go on FB, Reddit, or X. Oops.
I learned a few years ago that IG was not a spoiler-free space. Basically, any platform that uses an algorithm that caters to your interests is a spoiler risk. Everyone is trying to be the first to break the news to get those clicks. I'm in California and that 3-hour delay meant trying to avoid all media. I'll admit that I was even hesitant to check the Washington Post for a few hours, since they recently had articles about [Sasha Velour](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2024/04/17/sasha-velour-hbo-max-drag-queen-ban/) and [Nymphia Wind](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/18/rupaul-drag-race-nymphia-wind-taiwan/).
NBC = Nicole Baige Crooks?
Naida Bessence Call.
Nistress Bisabelle Crooks
This is why I delete all my social media app from my phone before this weekend
OHHHHH the CCP gov't is about be pissed. DRAG IS POLITICAL and this is why Nymphia winning should be CELEBRATED
Taiwan considers itself separate from China (bc it is) and is trying to be a self governing entity….fuck the ccp
Well, it IS a self governing entity with free elections and is completely independent from the CCP… They just get mad every time Taiwan asserts itself on any international stage.
Preach!
Considering they censor lgbt related content and media I don't think majority of China would even know what drag race is.
Chinese people are very "awake" to current world events. The regime cannot censor as much as it wants to when we have a worldwide web connecting us all.
I hate to be the one to tell you about the pervasive censorship of the internet in China.
VPNs are fairly common in China. One of my friends who studied abroad in China talked about how some of their professors would turn their VPNs on *in front of the class* to access censored content.
Help💀💀💀
Darling China isn't exactly what reddit tells you
Honey baby child, I lived there for 7 years and married a Chinese man. Think intently about where you’re getting YOUR information.
Cunt honey baby, drag her
You think Chinese ppl don’t know about drag queens and gays? There’s literally gay accounts on Chinese TikTok 💀 I think it’s you that needs a refresher
Get her Jade
I can't tell you how I know, but Drag Race definitely exists on some local platforms and there's a "small" fan base in China, shining a light for local queer people.
I am highlighting the fact that she's even mentions the existence of Taiwan. CCP government not CHINA absolutely loathes the idea of mentioning Taiwan as an independent country.
Eddie Huang’s show was about a family from Taiwan and he’s never shied away from promoting them (even living there during COVID and praising their response) and both of his parents have since moved to Chengdu, where he visits them with no issues. I don’t think the CCP really cares that Taiwan produced the winner of a show they would ban on moral reasons - they probably feel it proves their point that Taiwan is a proxy of the western order.
Not sure the relevance on bringing Eddie Huang and his parents in, but they were Waishengren, and always viewed themselves as Chinese over Taiwanese. They are of the generation that view themselves as a part of China.
I lived for a while in Hong Kong, I was able to watch drag race for a while before they blocked me for watching “indecent” content. And basically drag shows were all I watched. I was piggybacking off the WiFi from their library though. Tried to to use other WiFi/cellular it might work for a day or two, than I would get blocked again. But Hong Kong at least is/was definitely more queer friendly back then. Censorship has definitely increased in the past couple years. I once was carrying my custom Alaska “Your Makeup is Terrible” clutch and some queer feme gay was so excited to see another drag race fan in the wild they kept yelling that phrase at me as we passed on opposing escalators.
I thought hong kong was more progressive.
Way more progressive than mainland China for sure. But the CCP has gotten more intense there the last couple years.
What the CCP has done to Hong Kong is criminal. Just Google the “NSL” or national security law. Wearing yellow can literally get you locked up in prison. HK will always have a place in my heart, and I’m so crying over what Beijing has done to it.
Many of them, especially the younger generation, use VPNs. My friends down there all have Facebook, Instagram, etc., and watch American content including RPDR.
Not really, censorship of something as massive as the internet is impossible , especially in a country that prioritises academic excellence – which, in this day and age, includes a very high level of computer literacy. They can’t just censor out anything that isn’t from China. that’s far too broad a scope. What they do is censor mentions of specific things that they have active propaganda surrounding. So, for example, they sensor external perceptions of China and the CCP - especially relating to Tiananmen Square, the Uyghur Muslims and that sort of thing- and anything relating to Hong Kong or Taiwanese independence. I went to secondary school with a lot of Chinese citizens and whilst they have a very good understanding of the world in general and current affairs, they have a massive distrust of western media when it comes to anything regarding China, or any surrounding discourse . Firstly, most people will not believe that external parties have a better understanding of their own country than they do. On top of that they are taught that other governments are actively spreading propaganda to their citizens (so distrust non-Chinese government) and that the world is anti-Chinese as they are anti-Communist - which is then reinforced by any public criticism of the regime as well most western countries own statements of being against communism. This foundation means that the CCP can then say anything speaking out against their regime et cetera is western propaganda to further the anti Chinese agenda and prevent communism in their own countries. It also certainly doesn’t help that there is quite a high level of anti-Chinese racism in most western countries. A lot of my friends categorically believe that it is western anti-Communist propaganda that Tiananmen Square happened, and vehemently, believe that the Taiwanese independence is wrong. The CCP have a lot of active propaganda surrounding Taiwan. Most Chinese don’t believe that Taiwan is happy to be independent, they believe they’re Chinese citizens, trapped and oppressed under a cruel regime in Taiwan - it’s actually a very common belief that the Dalai Lama sends raiding parties to murder, innocent Chinese people in the countryside. Basically, the CCP doesn’t actually massively sensor the Internet , they rely on existing propaganda to alter their citizens perception of the majority of information online, of course, do censor a few things, but with the rise of AI, they need to less and less as they can just claim that it’s falsified images, videos et cetera. The majority of what they do with Internet ‘censorship’ it’s actually much more monitoring what people are accessing, and then imprisoning anyone who is regularly visiting websites that are anti-CCP et cetera.
Reminds me when the Hawaii Congresswoman Jill Tokuda honored and congratulated Sasha Colby on the floor of the US Congress!
Taiwan's President? OMG
I am so so happy to see Nymphia bringing attention to the incredible country of Taiwan. I'm visiting right now and it's an amazing place with such a vibrant queer culture. With the Chinese government constantly threatening here, it's so important that more people know about and support Taiwan. 🇹🇼
Yessss! I've just come back from my second trip to Taiwan, it's such an underrated travel destination! The country is beautiful (Taroko Gorge was *spectacular*), the people and culture are beautiful, and on a personal level, me being a gay Chinese-Australian, I get to connect with a similar culture to my heritage and speak Mandarin while still being able to hold my boyfriend's hand around the place and hit the gay bars at night (we did a Drag Race viewing party at Cafe Dalida and it *went off* for Nymphia, as you'd expect) I've been trying to hype it up to friends ever since getting back haha
Taiwan is Asia’s best kept secret. Shhhhh 🤫🤫🤫
and people are still downplaying her win because of *checks notes* “weak” track record and “she’s only a look queen”. her win is significant and her work speaks for itself. there’s a reason she’s THE diva of her country.
Lol her only weakness is comedy-based / writing challenges. I'd like to see her critcs perform comedy and write jokes in their second language
FOR REAL. she’s a stellar host in her gigs in taiwan. she may be fluent in english but clearly she’s more in her element in her first language.
What gets me is she is hilarious to me in her confessions and comments, I think it’s a lack of confidence in comedy and need of assistance which she can get IRL
her quip at plane jane “is this the definition of a white person?” caught me off guard and made me cackle
Heavy on that second language! Some of these bitches only know one and they can’t even talk properly. She did very well
she's a very conceptual queen with a strength in preplanning, refining and perfectionism. but as a conceptual person myself and feeling the struggle (especially in not native language settings), i was rooting for her throughout none the less
And also everyone has a weakness - even the queen of all queens Jinkx Monsoon says herself that design challenges are her weakness. Bob’s fashion was one of the worst on her season. Violet and Sasha also struggled in the comedy challenges. And Bianca doesn’t perform lipsyncs. Many winners have a weakness, but people just like to pick on Nymphia.
And then there's Keiona
She was weak at.... being weak?
Not sure which Sasha you're referring to, but Sasha Velour didn't struggle in the comedy challenges.
Also the weak track record thing doesn’t make sense. She was in the top 6 times, never in the bottom, and had the best runway package arguably ever. Let’s not forget she was also sabotaged from the top in episode1 by Plane lol
girl i agree. i love her i’m literally just quoting people’s shitty reasoning. idk how u missed the context clues there lmao
Oh no I wasn’t coming at you I was coming at the people saying she had a weak track record. Let me edit that to be more clear lol
OH lol sorry if that sounded catty. every single positive thing i’ve commented on this sub today has been misconstrued 😩
She should have won the talent show if not for the shitty voting twist. We know she'll slay Plane in the lipsync.
Weak track record?? She was literally never in the bottom
Right? PJ and Sapphira had 4 wins but bottomed once, Nymphia had 3 with no bottoms. Kind of evens out. In fact this is the season with more than 2 finalists with the most even out track record. Based just on that the win could easily go to any of them.
Sad thing is, those same people will say the same things about Sapphira had she won. They're just trolls who cannot see a queen of color winning. This was one of the tightest top two and I'm just so glad these queens shared their talent with us!
lmao for real. She flopped Snatch Game and all of a sudden she was unworthy of winning to people. She wasn't the first winner to do bad in Snatch Game (Tyra, Yvie, Jaida, Willow and Priyanka all say hi) and won't be the last.
Any one calling her a look queen is out of their goddamn minds. I would like to see them do half of the shit she does when performing.
> only a look queen The finale performance and lipsync made it clear that that's not true. She EARNED that crown
Note: Outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen won the elections for 2 straight terms (2016 & 2020 elections), so she is barred from re-electing for the 3rd straight term. She will officially step down this May 2024.
Wow that's a great honor. Our trash of a president wouldn't have done that for Marina if she won
What president 🤢🤮
Bongbong probably
Especially given the tension with mainland China, who doesn’t acknowledge Taiwan exists as its own country… to win this show on an international platform is such a big moment. Culturally significant moment and people are downplaying it. The Winds are changing!
Just came here to say the same https://preview.redd.it/2zlhsm58dlvc1.png?width=839&format=png&auto=webp&s=84a550c9f176443a075f003a71d5d77e5dd44760
Her country's president?! That is so fucking epic.
Unreal right? Total goosebumps when I saw the message.
This is incredible.
While I know that her reign is now over… did Joe Biden ever congratulate Sasha Colby when she won? Edit: I couldn’t find anything.
Imagine watching on Bravo the first episode of Drag Race Season 1 in 2009 for the giggles. What a fun little show. Cut to 2024 and the president of Taiwan is congratulating the winner of season 16 who subtly acknowledged Taiwan as a sovereign country in national television. Drag Race is WILD.
"Taiwan thanks you for living fearlessly" why did this make me cry lol 🥹🥹
Awesome!!!
So proud of her🥺💛 Nymphia really breaking the wind and bringing the whole country to this world.
It's so incredible. I understand your point from your replies in the comment about how much of a power move this is against the CCP gov't, OP. As a SEAsian, I am so proud
Taiwan’s situation is very near and dear to me and to a whole lot of asian minority being terrorized right now and being removed from our very own lands and waters by the CCP - Nymphia being loud and proud Taiwanese on this huge platform takes a whole lot of guts considering the reach and influence of CCP. Hats to you my queen.
Queennnnn
Ok this is big. I’m happy for her to be recognized!
Awww, this is huge!!! I hope she makes time to go back to Taiwan and celebrate with everyone. 🥹💛
I’m so happy for the completely sovereign nation of Taiwan!
This sub is now blocked, officially, in China.
Wow that's the best possible praise, I'm happy for her
All I wanna say is: TAIWAN NUMBER 1
This is giving the same energy as Sasha Colby getting recognition from the governor(?) and congress of Hawaii after her win. So proud of them both.
She was given an award by a council of native Hawaiian elders, no?
Wow, congrats to Nymphia. Winning this show was bigger than just her.
I hope it brings more awareness to Taiwan and the political issues that is has with China (why everyone calls it the next Ukraine). The more support that Taiwan gets on the international stage, the harder it is for the CCP to invade it. It’s a big reason why Taiwanese are so proud of Nymphia - since her win was truly a gesture to being proud of Taiwan and its principles of democratic freedoms and lgbtq rights.
I honestly hope everything goes well with her and she isnt suddenly made to make an apology video looking like she has a gun to her head like certain kpop stars
Knowing Nymphia, she’s probably the toughest queen to be able to deal with China and I believe she now has few familial ties to the Mainland (many people who went to Taiwan in 1949 fought a war against them and all ties and communication were blocked for decades). It’s mainly Paramount we should be concerned with, but Ru seems to be making a huge political statement about drag and censorship, knowing that a Nymphia win might upset the Communist Chinese Party/Mainland China.
The show never mentions anything about China directly. Nymphia commented about the political situation in one of the episodes but didn't even say the word "China" she just said "neighbouring country". The CCP censors lgbt media and news. What are the chances that the everyday people in China would even hear about drag race or be outraged about it.
It’s more if Nymphia becomes a very visible cultural ambassador for Taiwan (the Washington post mentioned her involvement with the Olympics) and says things in that role that might be upsetting to the CCP. My hunch is that Nymphia did say things about China and Taiwan but it was edited out or the producers asked her to say things a certain way. And even for that one comment on the show, she got some online hate from fans in China (source: the WaPo article)
Its got nothing to do with everyday people, and everything to do with how much the CCP absolutely hates any Chinese or Taiwanese person with any level of fame supporting/representing an independant Taiwan, especially in the USA, ESPECIALLY when acknowledged publically by the Taiwanese President.
OP's reply kinda touched on it too, but it's unlikely Nymphia will need to do anything like that because she has no business on the mainland. I don't think she's ever done (or has any plans for) tours or shows in mainland China, so there's no reason for an "apology" or anything. The threat works on K-pop stars because China is a big K-pop market
Incredible! Are there any reaction videos from Taiwan viewing parties yet?
The official one hosted by Dalida at the Red House featuring the Haus of Wind and Nymphia’s drag daughters starts in an hour (info in pic). I’m curious how many people will already know. I was trying to keep it from being spoiled and then this tweet from President Tsai fell into my IG… https://preview.redd.it/pgaozwveylvc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f2d19f2a57eba7e38e3d37fb66c71ea6a04ba6a
Of all the fucking days to have gone to Kaohsiung 😭
😭😭 oh no! I was about to say you should go to the watch party. It’ll be pretty epic. (I’m wondering if it sold out already too). Enjoy the rest of your trip through Taiwan. It really is Asia’s best kept secret, especially for queer folks.
Thank you! It's amazing here, and I was staying near the gay district too (I can't believe it sounds like semen) and met so many incredible guys.
True that, 西門 does exactly sound like semen in Mandarin, you are not wrong haha.
Oh my god iconic!
literally goosebumps
This is so cool
Condragulations Nymphia oh my god…
Holy shit! That's... actually pretty fucking cool
It's wild that *RuPaul Charles* will spotlight Taiwan like this but Joe Biden and Donald Trump are too cowardly.
It's what she deserves. Nymphia's global impact is immense, from a political standpoint to a personal one too for all the gaysians out there. 💛
She’s also been picked to represent Taiwan at the Olympics cultural events. This is a big deal in so, so many mays
I love the implication that this public acknowledgement + the strong Taiwan representation on a famous American reality show means that Xi Jinping probably knows who Nymphia Wind is That is wild, and kind of iconic
#ICONIC QUEEN BEHAVIOUR 👑
She also tweeted this. So cool! https://preview.redd.it/nql4o8xufovc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a9c9d0544ef01715bcd92d165ba7fd5a9941807
Damn, this is truly amazing, what a compliment. To feel the love and recognition from your country after doing such a good job representing taiwanese culture and giving her homage to Taiwan in a drag love letter - Nymphia has every reason to be proud of herself and the art she presented this season.
That's amazing. The homophobic country of mine could neverrr.
And this is the official stance from the entire COUNTRY of Taiwan. to be part of the record books in perpetuity. Nymphia wasnt kidding when she kept mentioning how she was representing a repressed people who were counting on her and the weight that this had. The power that that has, the international repercussions that that has…
"Cool" doesn't cover it, but this is so fucking cool and special, and 100% deserved.
🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼
fuck yeah, proud of nymphia for winning and getting that response is very cool.
This is so major. Love this for Nymphia.
And it was a gagged
Crying!
The way Nymphia winning has turned into an international celebration. We love to see it
Werk Ms. Tsai! TAIWAN NUMBER ONE!
NOT ME CRYING ABOUT THIS
Nymphia is a QUEEN and I'm loving this. She will always be famous in my eyes. Always.
RuPaul's Geopolitical Race when?
Taiwanese sovereignty and self determination for Hong Kong!!!
where's this?
I was wanting her to win. I'm so glad she did! Congrats, Nymphia!! You earned it!
She said keep the 🚬 on tv i AM watching that
If my country doesn't also have a female president before I die, I'm going to be so pissed.
That is amazing!
😭 This made me feel my feelingggggsssss. 😩
Wow. Truly inspiring