RuPaul Charles has paid tribute to tug queen The Vivienne, hailing their ardour for “love and life” on the opening of RuPaul’s DragCon UK occasion in east London.
The dying of James Lee Williams, whose drag title was The Vivienne, was introduced final weekend.
The 32-year-old star gained the primary UK sequence of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2019 and got here third on the 2023 version of Dancing On Ice.
Drag queen and TV presenter RuPaul, who hosts the UK, American and Australian variations of the favored actuality competitors, instructed the gang on the Excel in London on Friday that he was “here to celebrate life, to celebrate love”.
He added: “We’re right here to begin these festivities, however earlier than we do this, we need to concentrate on love, and we’ll bear in mind our expensive The Vivienne, with love, life, and that is what she was all about.
“She would love for you to live your lives and to be free and to have a lot of fun and to spread it around, isn’t that right?”
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RuPaul had beforehand paid tribute to The Vivienne on social media. File pic: Reuters
The DragCon occasion, which payments itself as the most important gathering of Drag Race queens and followers on the earth, is a two-day conference on the Excel within the UK capital, ending on Saturday.
Michelle Visage, a RuPaul’s Drag Race choose, wore a black T-shirt with The Vivienne’s title on it whereas showing alongside RuPaul on the occasion’s launch.
A memorial wall and e book had been put up for followers and performers on the occasion to write down messages remembering the late performer.
The written posts included RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestants Charity Kase and Alexis Saint-Pete.
English performer Kase wrote: “The world was better with you in it.”
Polish drag queen Saint-Pete wrote: “We love you so much and miss you even more.”
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The Vivienne on the premiere of Depraved in November. Pic: AP
The Vivienne rose to prominence in 2015 after changing into the UK Drag Ambassador for the American sequence of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
After successful the UK model of the present, they competed on an all-winners season of the RuPaul franchise within the US in 2022, starred in BBC Three present The Vivienne Takes On Hollywood in 2020, and was on Channel 4’s Movie star Hunted for Stand Up To Most cancers in 2022.
Williams, who was born in Wales and later moved to Liverpool, carried out because the Depraved Witch of the West in a UK and Eire tour of The Wizard Of Oz musical and reprised the position within the West Finish final 12 months.
They had been as a consequence of be again on tour subsequent month performing within the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang musical within the position of the Childcatcher.
Cheshire Police confirmed that they had been referred to as to a house in Chorlton-by-Backford, close to Chester, at 12.22pm on Sunday following stories of a sudden dying.
They stated there have been “no suspicious circumstances,” and stated a file is being “prepared for the coroner”.
