How Suzie Toot, Onya Nurve, and Lana Ja’Rae Confronted a Homophobic Heckler in Las Vegas
“Speak up when something f**ked up’s going on!” the Drag Race season 17 competitor said in a red-carpet interview after the incident.
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RuPaul’s Drag Race star Suzie Toot has opened up about the anti-LGBTQ+ heckling she and fellow queens from season 17 recently faced in Las Vegas.
“We did get hate crimed!” she said during a March 17 red carpet interview with Pride.com during RuPaul’s Drag Race Live 1000th Show. “Suzie Toot can’t catch a break!”
Suzie explained that the incident occurred while she and her fellow queens — this season’s top six contestants — were posing in front of the city’s iconic Las Vegas sign. “We had to cut everybody because we’re famous and we had things to do,” she said. “And as we were taking pictures, somebody went, ‘Boo! Boo!’ And they said, ‘Not in front of the children!’”
However, Drag Race contenders Onya Nurve and Lana Ja’Rae had no interest in letting the passerby’s bigoted comments slide. “Onya and Lana, bitch, went right up to them and said, ‘Bitch, what did you say?’” Suzie added. “It was really good.”
“Thank God, that’s what we need right now!” Pride.com reporter Ricky Cornish said, to which Suzie responded, “Seriously! Speak up when something fucked up’s going on!”
Over the last several years, right-wing lawmakers have increasingly targeted drag. According to GLAAD, at least 161 drag events faced anti-LGBTQ+ protests in 2022. In recent years, some of these protests have evolved into serious threats, such as a Boston library receiving a bomb threat over drag story hour in October 2024. Meanwhile, a 2023 Vice investigation found that at least 11 schools across the U.S. received bomb threats after being targeted by anti-LGBTQ+ figure Chaiya Raichik’s Libs of TikTok social media account. In May 2024, a coalition of drag artists, including performers who were impacted by the Club Q and Pulse shootings, announced Qommittee, a national network aimed at protecting drag.
When Pride.com’s Cornish asked Suzie what message she would like to send to her fans during the “very scary times” that are the second Trump administration, she pointed out that “in times of great duress… the arts and culture thrive, because it is more necessary than ever.”
“People need not only an escape, but also a mirror and a reflection of what is happening,” she continued. “So what we can do, besides calling our lawmakers and voting… is make art and support art, because it’s gonna keep us sane, and it’s gonna keep us focused.”
