00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm here with RuPaul Charles
00:08today. RuPaul, thank you so much for being with us. My pleasure. I wanted to talk to you about
00:14your amazing Emmy win. It's your two consecutive years in a row that you've won for Outstanding
00:20Host. How does it feel? It's fantastic. I'm so excited that, you know, that people in the
00:28industry care enough to recognize us. Because, you know, we've always known we have a show
00:34that's a lot of fun and that a lot of people are inspired by. But, you know, those kinds
00:39of awards, the Emmys and the Critics' Choice, that's the industry people. And once, you
00:45know, they finally come around and say, okay, we see you, it's a great thing. Because, you
00:50know, some of my favorite shows of all time have never won Emmys. Some of my favorite actors
00:55or hosts have never won it. And it's partially political, you know what I mean? Yes. Who
01:02you know and who likes you at any given time. Just like in junior high school. So, you know,
01:08I'm excited that the kids in our high school have decided to give us an award. Yeah. What
01:16do you think are the key components that have, you know, or when did you know that the industry
01:22was taking notice? What was the first time you noticed? Well, we had a huge switch over
01:27last season when we moved from Logo to VH1. VH1 has 93 million homes. And Logo, it's harder
01:36for people to see it on Logo because it's fewer homes. I think that had a lot to do with
01:42it.
01:43Also, I think what's happening politically in our country, in Washington, people are angry
01:49and they want to embrace the philosophy of the true American way, which is openness and
02:00lovingness and future forward. And our show embodies that spirit. Right, right. And you've
02:07seen, I mean, you've seen that turnover happen before. You've seen the culture shift. And how
02:15important is it to you that, like, the industry, Hollywood, the entertainment business, embrace
02:23diversity and acceptance during a time when, you know, there's, it's, I don't know, I've
02:31called it a backlash before, but Jill Soloway corrected me and said, it's not a backlash,
02:36it's progress. And, you know, there will always be resistance to progress. There will always be
02:41resistance to progress. And let me just say first and foremost that, um, Hollywood doesn't
02:47have a moral obligation. If you really want to break it down, Hollywood has a monetary
02:54obligation. So it does what makes money. That's bottom line, no tea, no shade. It's just the
03:01way it is. So for, um, creative people to, uh, to rally around the true American spirit, which
03:09is about openness, it's about, uh, uh, lovingness, you know, um, that is important to us so that
03:18we can actually continue to do what we do. You know, if it, if it, everything shuts down
03:23in this sort of Gestapo, weird, dystopian craziness, then we won't have any work. We won't, we won't
03:32be able to be creative. So it's in our best interest to embrace things that, uh, embrace
03:38openness and free speech and, uh, different concepts.
03:43Yeah. And what do you think about it? You know, we all have a limited amount of money
03:47to spend in the world and you want to spend your men, your money on things that make you
03:51feel good.
03:52Sure. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's, you know, humans, um, humans are not really that complicated.
03:59You know, the subconscious mind is usually running things and sometimes the subconscious mind,
04:07um, wants things that are, are not so good for it. You know, I mean, try to keep me away
04:14from that, uh, uh, berry butter cake, you know, my subconscious mind is like, I'm going to get
04:22it no matter what. But then, uh, the conscious mind, you know, the truth is I really, I really
04:27can't afford to have that butter bear cake. I'm using that as an example because politically
04:32a lot of people have rallied around this, this backward way of thinking because they're
04:38in fear because they want something that's familiar. Berry butter cake is familiar to me.
04:46It makes me feel good, but it's ultimately really not the best thing for me.
04:49Right. Right. Um, you know, regarding your own category hosting, um, does hosting come naturally
04:56to you or is it something you feel, feel you need to work at? I know that you've been in
05:00the industry for a long time, but specifically to your show and the, how you host this show.
05:05You know, it comes natural to me because I actually started out in nightclubs in New York being
05:10an MC and hosting and doing all that stuff. So that part of it comes natural to me. Also,
05:16the team that I work with here are friends of mine from the East Village and, uh, uh, who,
05:23they understand my voice. I understand their voice and the writers have been able to, uh,
05:30to really get what, what I'm about. So, you know, it's, it's a, uh, it's a marriage that is harmonious.
05:38So I think we all work really well together. Hmm. Um, can we talk a little bit about your performance
05:44as Emmy on the Emmys? How did you come up with that? Where did that come from? Well, Stephen
05:51Colbert, uh, proposed it to me and I initially said, you know, I actually don't want to do it
05:56because I'm not that fond of skits on award shows. Actually, award shows in general are usually
06:03not that funny. They're kind of forced and everybody feels very stiff. And I thought, you know what,
06:08thank you for asking me, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna pass because we were in the middle of production
06:11here when, when we did it. And then he called me directly and said, Rue, let me just pitch you
06:17what this thing is. And he told me what it is. And I was on the floor laughing. I thought
06:22it was
06:22hilarious. I said, sure, I'll do it. So we made it happen. Um, actually right here in the studio,
06:28they came all the way here. We're right now in Simi Valley and, uh, and we shot it and I
06:34thought it was
06:34hilarious. And who are you channeling for Emmy that attitude that, you know, um, I, I'm actually
06:43channeling, uh, the grand dames of, uh, of show business. I'm doing Faye Dunaway, Diana Ross and,
06:54uh, a little bit of, uh, Jane Fonda. I'm doing all of that sort of, you know, that grand Dom
07:02storyline.
07:02Yes. Oh, that's wonderful. Um, so, uh, regarding Stephen Colbert, if Stephen Colbert could come
07:08on to your show, what would you have him do? Oh my goodness. Uh, I would have him probably walk
07:15the runway in drag. There's a picture, his drag name is Raven. And, uh, there's a picture of him
07:20in drag where you would never really recognize him because your eyes would be locked on that juicy,
07:27fat ass. Have you ever seen that picture of him? Yes. Oh my goodness. It's amazing. And, and that's
07:37the power of drag. It really does allow us, the viewers, to see, um, isn't it just the dark side
07:45of the moon? Not dark in the sense of, you know, being something evil or anything, but the other side
07:51of the moon. And it's really important. I think for humans, especially at this point in our evolution
07:56on this planet to recognize all sides of us, you know, we focus on really just one without
08:05understanding what's in the subconscious mind, what the other voices are. And that's why our show,
08:10I believe is so important. Mm-hmm. Um, uh, speaking of your season nine show,
08:17Emmy winning season nine show, um, you had a contestant on Peppermint who made it all the way
08:22to the top three. Um, not the first transgender woman competing, but the first one to really talk
08:28about it on the show. Um, are you looking forward to kind of more firsts, uh, like that? Is it
08:35part of the evolution of the show? You know, our show is, it's, there's this magic element to our
08:42show that, you know, we produce it in advance and we invite all the kids to come on our show,
08:48the show girls, and then something else happens. Because the, because they come from such
08:57interesting backgrounds, all of this other story happens that we're shocked by. You know,
09:02we've come to expect that it's going to be a shocking season every single season, but I think
09:07by nature of what it is we're doing, which is deconstructing the, uh, the images and deconstructing,
09:19uh, who we are. It just, as humans, uh, it invites these deeper storylines. And it's always been that
09:28way. And I can tell you every single season, something happens where we're like, what?
09:35Wow. And we are educated. The audience is educated and, and we get to understand what identity is
09:42about and, and how it works and how it works in our everyday lives. So it's, um, uh, it's shocking,
09:50but it's so much fun and so educational and at the same time, entertaining.
09:54Mm-hmm. Yes. RuPaul, thank you so much. Thank you.
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