“King Molasses is a vocation, and drag is my practice,” says the first winner of Revry’s drag king reality competition series, King of Drag. The Nigerian American drag icon is “honored and humbled” to have won the show but often still struggles with “the mental work it takes to be in my humanity and spirit while being treated like a token.”
“I don’t pass in any societal context in or out of drag, which extends to environments that center queer communities,” Molasses says, “but the same codes that garner well-meaning ovations are the same codes that subject me to isolation, loneliness, and violence on a regular basis.”
The drag star questions if they can “overcome the powers that be who wish me dead,” but continues to respond through their artistry. “I am King Molasses because I have made the choice that I have no choice other than to be myself.”
Molasses’s message as an Out100 honoree? “If you’re called to love, prepare to be tired.” @kingmolasses
Years before Stonewall, a cafeteria riot became a breakthrough for trans rights
All about the Compton's Cafeteria riot, when drag queens and trans women rose up against police at a diner in San Francisco.