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Silky Nutmeg Ganache Under Fire for Racist Reading Challenge

Plastique Tiara Silky Nutmeg Ganache

Silky tried to read Plastique Tiara, a Vietnamese queen, by speaking Japanese.

The library opened -- and people would like it to close.

On Thursday night's episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, during the infamous reading mini challenge, Silky Nutmeg Ganache stepped up to the plate to read fellow contestant Plastique Tiara. During her series of rhyming (and mostly unfunny) reads, Silky's statements to Plastique included speaking in attempted Japanese, something that some fans -- and fellow Drag Race queens -- have taken issue with.

During the challenge, Silky repeated the words "Hayaku! Hayaku!" to Plastique, which she said meant "Hurry up!" though the translation is up for debate.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Plastique responded, looking confused. Silky offered a translation, to which Plastique responded: "I'm not Japanese!"

Season 11 contestant Soju tweeted after last night's episode, "I'm Korean and Plastique is Vietnamese." When a fan quote tweeted her and told her to mention Silky in the tweet, she responded that this was not about calling Silky out, that it was about education.

"I know your heritage. But what puzzles me is that reads that rhymes which I did to every girl has become I'm racist. Okay. Y'all can play into that if you want," Silky wrote on Twitter.

"You're not a racist," Soju responded, drawing a distinction between Silky being racist and her comments which were, in fact, racist.. "It's just something that should be addressed because again we lack enough asian awareness to realize just saying Japanese words to a Vietnamese person isn't funny."

Silky responded by saying that if Plastique had a problem, Plastique should be the one to say something.

Silky ended the conversation by saying that the two would have a conversation about it at the reunion.

Because the clip of the incident was released as a preview prior to Thursday's episode, Plastique already weighed in on the exchange, asking fans not to throw hate at Silky for what she said.

"Nobody deserves to be hated," Plastique said. "We can all take this as a learning experience and grow."

Silky has been in hot water for discriminatory comments lobbed at her fellow queens. In March, at an appearance at Roscoe's in Chicago, she made a comment about fellow queen Mercedes Iman Diamond, who is Muslim, that many thought equated her to being a terrorist.

"Behind the scenes, making the promo shoot, I said this is going to be the shadiest season, the fakest season," Silky told the crowd. "Then Mercedes walked up and I said, 'This season's going to blow up'!"

Mercedes addressed the Islamophobia she experienced in her life -- not from Silky -- during an episode that aired later in March.

Plastique's Vietnamese heritage came up again later in the episode when Michelle Visage criticized her for using what she felt was an Asian stereotype in her character during the weekly maxi challenge. When Plastique tried to respond to Visage, she said that she should have "Asian pride" and not be an Asian stereotype, prompting some on social media to point out that Visage should not lump all Asian people under "Asian pride" or, as a white person, tell an Asian person how to display their heritage.

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