The following article contains spoilers for Drag Race Canada.
Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman has deleted his Twitter and made his Instagram more private following an onslaught of hateful comments from fans critical of his judging techniques on the Canadian spin-off.
Bowyer-Chapman has been called a “waste of space”, “horrendous” and “dead dumb blind and stupid” in response to comments he’s made to contestants on the Candian spin-off where he holds a regular judging spot.
Following comments made specifically to contestants Jimbo and Ilona Varley, a petition calling for his removal from the judging panel has received over 2,000 signatures.
Guest star of episode six and former Drag Race UK contestant Crystal has commented on the spiteful backlash tweeting:
“So the black queer judge on Canada’s Drag Race gets bullied off twitter. Ya’ll happy?
“The main arguments I’ve seen are accusations of “inauthenticity” (as if YOU know what’s authentic for him), and bad critiques (but none of the other judges are getting that half as hard). It’s a pile on. And it’s racist. And for what? Clout? Bet you would have loved a good old fashioned public stoning.
“Honestly – search his name and just look at the endless endless nasty tweets. It’s so depressing. Are you contributing to this? Wild idea, but maybe put that energy into someone who’s actually done something… bad?”
So the black queer judge on Canada’s Drag Race gets bullied off twitter. Ya’ll happy?
— Crystal (@crystalwillseeu) August 23, 2020
Many responded to Crystal disagreeing with her comments recalling Bowyer-Chapman’s critiques ti Ilona for the Candian ‘Tuck’-shedo runway.
“I think that your mug is painted so gorgeously. However, when I see that booty and the little turnaround, a little full coverage foundation may have helped you out,” Jeffrey told Ilona. Fellow judge Brooke Lynn Hytes also said “she definitely should’ve put some makeup on that ass.”
Following these comments, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman was accused of body-shaming Ilona which Brokke Lynn Hytes addressed saying that the panel had “no problem with the size or shape of Ilona’s bum, she has a beautiful, beautiful body and it was not meant in that way at all,” and that it was “not meant as body-shaming whatsoever.”
Responding to Crystal’s thread, one person responded: “Crystal (and Lemon, I see you retweeted this), I respect you both SO much, and yes, black-queer representation is so important, but Jeffrey was just being an absolute bully. Humiliating contestants for the whole world to see. body shaming, making them cry, etc.”
Addressing this comment, Crystal said: “You’re telling two people who have worked with him that YOU know better than us who he is, and what he’s like. How does that logic work?” Lemon also responded: “How many conversations have you had with him? You don’t really think you know him from 20 min of judge time on a television show? Delusion.”
Drag Race Canada star Lemon, who was eliminated last week, spoke to Attitude about the saga saying they never felt the judges including Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman were rude or unqualified.
“What everyone is forgetting is that the judging goes on for hours, and so the judges obviously say supportive, very kind things to us as well, but at the end of the day it’s a competition and it’s TV.
“If they were like, ‘You guys are all so pretty’, it’d be a terrible show, don’t ya think? So no, I never felt that any of the judges were rude or unqualified.
“They were chosen for a reason and they’re all really cool people. We need to keep in mind that they’re humans, too.”
Many fans criticised the insults directed at Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman with one saying that “the Drag Race fandom continues to be on track to battle Star Wars fans as the worst.”
© 2020 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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