First things first: This article is going to spoil the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ finale for you. Completely.
It’s going to include details of everything that happened so if you still haven’t watched it, stop reading and get yourself to Netflix. Now.
Right then. Where do we even start with this? Can we have a lay down and a G&T before talking about what we witnessed?
So… Asia O’Hara has apologised to fans after one of the most “WTF?” finale moments in ‘Drag Race’ history, which saw her release butterflies midway through an elaborate lip sync performance.
Asia was up against Kameron Michaels in the first of the final’s three lip sync battles.
Her costume was covered in plastic butterflies, with egg-like structures on her chest and bangles with capsules, so it was obvious an elaborate gag was coming.
What wasn’t clear was that said gag would involve Asia opening the capsules to reveal actual butterflies that were *supposed* to fly off and around the stage.
Readers, this did not happen. They did not fly. Some sank to the floor and perched on the stage, leaving the audience wondering if they were even alive:
Others appeared to not even make it this far and the star was forced to blow them off her wrists.
She then carried on dancing, as the butterflies remained at her feet. Were some of them dead before she even opened the capsules? Did the others get crushed? Stressful doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Here’s Monique Heart’s reaction, which sums everything up far better than we could:
Following the incident, Asia tweeted an apology and explanation, telling fans that the stunt worked perfectly when she rehearsed it.
“I just want to let everyone know how sad and heartbroken I am by the way my lip-sync performance during the finale of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ turned out,” she wrote. “Despite months of research and rehearsing with a professional company, what I hoped would be an amazing and safe display of optimism, and a surprise for everyone including production and the network, it did not go as planned.
“I would like to publicly offer the entire world my deepest apology. It’s important that everyone knows that I would never purposely hurt any living being and have the utmost respect for all animals.
“If you are unhappy with me, I understand. I have been unhappy with myself since that night but I’m going to do my best to make it right. Over the next year, my friends and I will be donating over 100 volunteer hours to the ASPCA, an organization that has been dedicated to the fair treatment of animals since 1866.
“I can’t apologize enough for what happened. I want my fans and the world to know that I’ll continue to be humble, own my mistakes, and lead with love and light.”
In the spirit of ‘Drag Race’, many fans have tweeted about the tragic-comic turn of events:
Aquaria went on to win the final after a three-way lip sync battle for the crown, but to be honest we never truly recovered from butterfly-gate.
The episode also saw this year’s Miss Congeniality revealed, with last year’s winner Valentina announcing Monét X Change as the recipient via videolink from Berlin.