Drag Memes: The Drag Community's Impact On Meme Culture In 2021

Few online communities meme quite as well as the drag community. The members are experts at snappy references and callbacks, always at the ready to strike and make gold out of what they’re given. The community is so tight-knit and supportive of its members that drag meme spaces are some of the most positive on the web, offering a huge range of comedy styles and formats that anyone can vibe with.

Drag memes have been popping up in mainstream meme circles with more and more frequency over the years as the culture becomes further accepted around the world. Plus, there’s a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race going on, which always means an influx of drag-related memes in every corner of the web. If you’re not familiar with the scene, it’s time to get caught up.

Obey The Walrus

Obey The Walrus is arguably one of the earliest viral “drag memes,” and shows us how far the community has come in terms of acceptance. Obey The Walrus is an admittedly eerie viral video featuring a clip of transgender drag queen Goddess Bunny, who was disabled since birth due to polio, dancing to a creepy version of “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” The video spread across the web without context due to its creepy atmosphere, especially without context.

The problem with Obey The Walrus is that, with context, it becomes more sad than creepy, and the trend becomes problematic considering it hinges on being afraid of and laughing at footage of a disabled drag queen taking part in her passion. Those who didn’t know have an excuse, and many simply comment on the creepy atmosphere of the video rather than Goddess Bunny specifically. Even so, some posts gave full context as to who’s being shown and the source (a 1994 documentary on Goddess Bunny), which still resulted in scared and mocking replies, offering a glimpse into the rough start of drag queen visibility online.

Goddess Bunny passed in January 2021 at 61 after a lifetime of struggling with polio and HIV, but she gained a significant following in those years partly due to the success of Obey The Walrus, though mostly due to her own strengths as a performer and her uniquely inspiring life. Among her accomplishments is a permanent portrait in The Louvre, an appearance in Marilyn Manson’s “The Dope Show” music video and several film roles. She remains an inspiration to the drag community, and her involvement in Obey The Walrus remains a piece of crucial meme history.

Yaass

Yaass and by extension “yaass queen,” an encouraging and exclamatory way of saying “yes,” is a staple of the online lexicon these days, but did you know it got its start in drag culture? While its popularity online is directly associated with a video of someone screaming “yaass Gaga” at Lady Gaga, the term actually got its start in drag ball culture, used to cheer on participants in underground “balls” where members of the LGBTQ+ culture could walk and show off their unique styles without judgment.

The internet at large, particularly the LGBTQ+ community, has accepted “yaass” into their lexicon wholeheartedly, and it’s appeared in countless memes since. Many likely aren’t even aware of the origins dating back to ball culture, unfortunately only knowing the word from the iconic Gaga video. This shows exactly how influential the drag community has been on memes, yet how "in-the-shadows" the scene remains as a whole. Some of us likely use their language and references in memes, posts and everyday life without even realizing it.

Conchita Wurst's Beard

Conchita Wurst is the drag persona of Thomas Neuwirth and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. She became an internet legend in 2014 for her iconic beard, which users began photoshopping onto absolutely everything and everyone after Russell Brand made a tweet wearing a dress, implying he looked like Wurst.

That year’s competition was wrought with controversy, with one Russian lawmaker even wanting to boycott the competition for promoting “gay propaganda.” Wurst’s triumph, which she dedicated to “peace and freedom,” was a huge win for the LGBTQ+ and drag communities, which was also reflected in memes — acting as a sort of celebration of Wurst’s success and forcing the internet at large to revel in the glory of the beard.

RuPaul’s Drag Race ("And I Oop," Mayhem Miller Eyes, Club 96, Sitting Alone In the VIP)

Since RuPaul’s Drag Race first began in 2009, the show has played a major part in increasing the visibility and acceptance of drag culture in every aspect, including online. Whenever a new season of Drag Race begins, new, niche drag formats aren’t far off, including plenty of new reaction GIFs and catchphrases. One of the most iconic memes to come from Drag Race though has to be Jasmine Masters’ "And I Oop."

While the meme doesn’t come from Drag Race directly, Masters was a contestant on the show, greatly helping to propel the meme into the mainstream. Like “yas,” “and I oop” has become a staple phrase in the LGBTQ+ community and on the web, used to denote something going wrong in a funny way. The fact that Masters is a drag queen is secondary to the meme, which is hilarious through any lens for the reaction alone. This further helped popularize the meme as it has no direct references to the drag community, and no prior context is needed. Everyone "oops" and that's all that you need to know.

While “and I oop” is probably the most popular meme associated with Drag Race, other continually popular examples in online drag communities include Mayhem Miller Eyes, a series of reactions and memes based on an absolutely bone-chilling look from drag queen Mayhem Miller, and Club 96 in which users talk secretively about a fictional nightclub started during a challenge on Drag Race. These memes never hit the "mainstream" per se, mostly succeeding among drag queen community members and fans at the time they popped up, but they've become consistent, classic references in said communities ever since, and an important part in drag meme history.

In 2019 we saw Sitting Alone in the VIP explode on Twitter, based on an image of Drag Race contestant Kandy Muse sitting, you guessed it, alone in the VIP section wearing sunglasses. This meme actually blew up in the community before her appearance on Drag Race in a trend where drag queens would pose the same way as Muse, which has been done by top performers like Trixie Mattel and Aquaria, even getting its own song by drag musician Alaska Thunderfuck (shown below).

On top of all these are dozens of niche one-off memes, image macros, reaction images and references galore to the show that litter the community whenever a new season begins. Drag Race is easily the No. 1 source for new drag memes today. The show is a cultural phenomenon at this point, enjoyed by people worldwide inside and outside of the drag community, and it’s indirectly allowed memes about and drag culture and queens to spread outside their own communities, making the memeverse a more open and inclusive space for all.

The State of Drag Memes In 2021

As it stands, the drag community’s meme culture isn’t just massively influential, it’s also one of the few meme cultures based around widespread acceptance, peace and encouragement. The memes within the drag community almost always come from a place of admiration and respect, like the cheers of “yas queen” or “Conchita Wurst’s Beard,” and newcomers or visitors to various drag meme communities will only find hostility if they’re looking for it. Drag culture is only spreading both IRL and online, and the internet is set to be a better place for it.

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