Bob The Drag Queen on Trans Representation in ‘America’s Next Top Model’

In this video, Bob The Drag Queen recalls the groundbreaking visibility of Isis King on 'America’s Next Top Model.’

Transcript

00:00I love Isis. I mean, full disclosure, Isis is, we know each other. We're not super close, but we know each other.

00:05And I remember getting to see her competing on my television screen and just being blown away.

00:12Now, she did get a lot of microaggressions and macroaggressions while on the show as well.

00:17And getting to see a trans person navigate through that and everyone can see what it's like, how it affects her.

00:24And then you also get a chance to reflect how you treated queer people and trans people in your life.

00:28Yeah, this was, I gotta say, Isis handled this, first of all, way better than I could have on my best day.

00:34I could have never, ever handled this as well as Isis did.

00:39These girls, they're not girls. They are young women. And I did not want to give them that.

00:44They were kids. They're not kids. They're adults. They're grown adults. Very young adults, but still adults.

00:51Making fun of her body hair, her sweating, her breast. She says, I was not born female.

01:01And then they take it back and go, she said she used to be a man.

01:06Now we rewriting history.

01:07It seems like the epitome of what you think when you think about mean girls teasing someone.

01:11And when America's Next Top Model presented this, I don't know what the angle was.

01:16Was it like people will agree with Isis or people will agree with the other models?

01:20Like, I don't know what their angle was, to be honest.

01:22I know that watching it from the outside, I was like, my God, this is horrible.

01:26You walk around like that in a small town, you get shot.

01:28It's not so much a closed-minded view, it's just more traditional.

01:31Saying stuff like, if you walk around like that, what do you mean like that?

01:35And you get shot?

01:37She is justifying the harm, if not the murder, of someone for walking around.

01:44She didn't say for talking crazy, she said walking around.

01:50You walk around and therefore she gets to justify your harm, if not your murder.

01:58That's crazy.

01:59Nowadays, it's actually worse than it was then.

02:02Because they have more information, they have more knowledge, and they're still choosing to be hateful.

02:08If your first time you're hateful, it is bad.

02:13But after you know better and you do worse, it's even worse.

02:16In my opinion, which is what this video is about.

02:18My opinions. My new drag name, My Opinion.