Drag Race's Bianca Del Rio Says Her New Tour Isn't for the 'Easily Offended'

There are drag queens, and then there's Bianca Del Rio. If you're familiar with the season six winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, you know exactly what you're getting at one of her shows, but if you're not, this episode of The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott will be a perfect introduction to the human hurricane that is Bianca Del Rio. She talked about her new tour Dead Inside, politics, cancel culture, drag queen story hour, and so much more.

Below is a small portion of the conversation with Del Rio. To listen to the full conversation, look for The Parting Shot with H. Alan Scott wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

What can we expect from your Dead Inside tour?

I've had some time off. You know, I had been touring literally since Drag Race, and last year I took a minute just to kind of regroup. I don't know if you had heard but Beyoncé and this girl called Taylor Swift were on tour, and I just thought, let them have a moment, because the girls need exposure, so I let them go on tour. That's why I'm starting next year. And there's another woman, you might have heard of a Madonna, throw them a bone. Let's give them some time. I just kind of said to myself, let me take a minute regroup. I had foot surgery, which was this whole crazy thing that I had to have from years of wearing sh**** shoes as a drag queen. So I did all that and then you kind of sit with yourself and think, "Oh, this is gonna be a great year to do TV and film now because I'm available." Cut to a strike. So, I'm ready to go on the road and spread my venom and spread my hate, mainly because the world is a hot f****** box of Christmas s***. Let's be real. We're only in December, as of today, and you start to think to yourself, what is gonna happen between December and February? So much that needs to be discussed. I mean, serious political issues. There's a war going on. And the fact that Mitch McConnell is still alive. We need to talk about this. And listen, I'm not wishing him death, although it would be a perk, but let's take a minute and say, let him retire not because he's ruining the world and made some horrible policies, but I think that we need new Walmart greeter. And listen, you know if you're leaving there stealing a flat screen TV, I want Mitch McConnell to run after me.

So much of everything is political these days, including drag and comedy. Does that factor in to how you craft your set?

If you try to appease or be liked by everyone, you're screwed. So the people that are coming to see me usually know me, you know that I'm a joke. I mean, I'm a man in a wig. There's no illusion that's shattered by me saying that, and it's just trying to find the humor in all of it. Now, it may not be your cup of tea and every joke might not be a winner. So I can't worry about that. And I think I'm grateful. This is the one time being old is helpful. I didn't grow up in a world where you had to be accepted as a gay [person]. It's not some pitiful sad story where oh my god, I'm done. I'm getting my revenge on the world. It's just that that gave me the tough skin to not f****** care. And you've got to realize, with social media in particular, when you're doing material, I don't pander to that audience. You can't put a clip of your show [up] because people don't understand context anymore. Let's just say there's a running joke throughout the whole show, and it leads to one big punch line. And someone films that punch line and then posts it online with no explanation. And it's, 'Mitch McConnell should die.' Let's just say that's the end of something. Then it's oh my god, how dare you? This is insane. And the first one to trip up are usually the f****** gays, the worst people to start with. And they're like, 'How dare she?' But you weren't there. You didn't know the beginning, you didn't know the setup. You didn't know what this was. So I refuse to explain myself. And I also refuse to apologize. If you want to pay a ticket, pay for a ticket and come and watch and then have an opinion. You are by means welcome to do so. But I am not going to pander or try to skirt issues. If I want to talk about kids getting books read [to them by drag queens]. I can sit back and honestly say I don't like it. I'm not reading books to kids. F*** them kids. I'm not interested. But there's drag friends of mine that are like well, it should be okay. No, I don't want to go to a library and read books to kids that live alone. I don't need to be there. But if that's what you want to do, that's fine. So I just try to find the fun in it. And you just can't worry about that side of it. I often tell people I'm not a political figure. I'm not your mother. If you don't like it, move the f*** on. If it's a political figure and you're upset and this person is making decisions for us. Yes, of course. There's a time and place for that. But overall, I'm not trying to be an activist on any level.

It's been 10 years since you were on RuPaul's Drag Race. The show has certainly changed how we look at drag. What do you think is going to happen once the show ends?

I started to realize that there are people that are now doing drag because of Drag Race, that blows my mind. I go, "You started drag because you saw it on television?" That is amazing. I think for a young person and finding self-expression and all of that kind of stuff that didn't exist when I was a kid. I mean, we had Cher, Carol Burnett, that was it, you know? So it's wild to me that it's there. But it's all at their fingertips now. They think they're a great drag queen because they take an Instagram photo, and it's like, "Honey, I'm serving." Well, let's pull away the filters. I would love if they created an app where it just removed every filter. You say let me see this bitch and then you click and then it just all disappears. And then you go, "Oh, okay, I get it now. That's what the poor really f****** looks like." Not to say there's not an art to it. Some of these girls are in magazines, I think it's amazing. But that's not the world we live in. That's not reality, and not that drag is supposed to be realistic. I just think it's important to be realistic as a professional, realize what you do. Have an act if you want to travel, I'll put it that way. I'm not saying you have to have an act to be a drag queen. I just mean have an act if you want to travel, something that you can do live. I have always chosen to tour and to be with an audience because that is what I love. It's the most rewarding despite having a bad day, travel is f***** up or you didn't sleep. And then you get to go on stage and there's people that paid to see you. I'm going they actually know who I am and care to be here while I talk s***. How can you not be in a good mood? You know what I mean? Let's f****** roll.

Listen to H. Alan Scott's full conversation with Bianca Del Rio on Newsweek's Parting Shot. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Twitter: @HAlanScott