John Waters Says Drag Isn't Going Anywhere

Queer cinema icon John Waters says the revered theatrical art form of drag will endure, and he gave some thoughts as to why.

"Waters' career in cinema was largely made with the support of [the drag] community, with one of his frequent collaborators being the famous drag queen Divine," IndieWire noted.

Waters was interviewed by the L.A. Times for his solo show "John Waters' Birthday Celebration: The Naked Truth."

Taking on the issue of Donald Trump's attacks on drag, Waters told the L.A. Times, "He'll never get rid of drag. That's impossible. RuPaul made it acceptable to middle America."

Indeed, "RuPaul's Drag Race" is still going strong with a healthy international franchise. The original show just completed its 17th season.

"Still, Waters isn't surprised some people don't like drag story time," the L.A. Times relayed. "He said the Academy Museum wanted to do drag story time for his movie screenings," the writeup added.

Waters' reaction to that was one of incredulity, the newspaper said.

"Are you insane?" Waters recalled answering. "My drag queens are made to scare adults, not comfort children."

Drag may have become part of the mainstream, but that's a status Waters eschews. Dubbed "The Pope of Trash" by no less an outsider than William S. Burroughs, Waters now laments that he's seen as an elder of once-edgy entertainment – an "elder of filth," as the Times said he describes himself.

"Now I'm so respectable, I could puke," Waters told the newspaper. "I remember when I was condemned by the Catholic Church – how happy that made me. And when I based whole ad campaigns on terrible reviews."

Waters' films continue to have a devoted cult following, though his most recent attempt at making a movie – an adaptation of his own novel, "Liarmouth" – fell apart due to lack of financing despite the star power of Aubrey Plaza having been attached to the project.

Still, well before RuPaul, Waters was doing his part to reveal drag as the theatrical powerhouse that it is. His 1988 film "Hairspray," starring Divine as the mother of teen protagonist Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake), was adapted into a Broadway musical that was, in turn, made into a 2007 movie starring John Travolta.

"In the plot, Tracy Turnblad does not think her mother is trans. It's a secret between the audience and the actors," Waters noted, "and they don't know how to attack that."

The L.A. Times related how none other than Vivian Wilson – the estranged trans daughter of Elon Musk and a TikTok influencer – is seen in a clip acting out dialogue from Waters' film "Pink Flamingos."

Declaring himself "amazed and touched," Waters told the L.A. Times, "I thought, wow, from 50-some years ago, that really has gone far."