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The Cost of Winning Drag Race With Onya Nurve

HIGHKEY! With Yvie Oddly and Ryan Mitchell

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This week on Highkey, Yvie and Ry are joined by THEE Onya Nurve for a conversation about Drag Race backlash, being a Black winner on the internet, and why winning didn’t always feel as good as it looked from the outside.
Onya opens up about auditioning for Drag Race while working as a kitchen manager, getting a $36k package sponsored by friends, and wanting to return to the weird, avant-garde campy drag that inspired her in the first place. She also talks about the devastating experience of being cut from Kinky Boots after standing up for herself, the pressure put on drag artists in professional spaces, and why she refuses to let online fans dictate who she is.

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Highkey! is a production of iHeart Podcasts as a part of the Outspoken Network. This show is created and executive produced by Ryan Mitchell, Yvie Oddly and YEA Media Group.

Our Executive Producers are Juliana Torres and Ian McNeny. Special thanks to Riley Peleuses and Kidd Nation, Justin Chavez. Executive Producers for YEA Media Group are Ryan Kershner and Travis Lamont Ballinger.

Our iHeart team is Jess Kreinchich and Sierra Kaiser.

And our theme music is by the one and only Kion Hersey. And our show art is by Work by Work with photography by Eric Carter.

If you are interested in advertising on this podcast or having Ryan and Yvie as guests on your Podcast, Radio Show, or TV Show, please reach out to podcast@yeamediagroup.com!

20 Comments

@AeonEsq88 4 months ago

This interview and this platform is so important for Black Drag Race queens!!!!! I'm so happy to see this perspective of Onya.

@monetxcvideos 4 months ago

god this is so refreshing. we kinda need more Yvie and Onya

@jessicabw 4 months ago

Thank you for having Onya on! It's great to see talented people support her.

@NuisanceDM 4 months ago

I just want Onya to have her flowers today.

@bm4114 4 months ago

I wasn’t sure what to think about onya concerning her reign and kinky boots, but this all really helped me understand. I get the impression that art and creativity are her driving force, not attention or money. I worked as a music director on a non equity tour and I can confirm that those shows are bare bones backstage as far as cast support. Onya deserved better.

@petalblizzards 4 months ago (edited)

i'm glad it's you guys doing this interview, it makes sense and you guys do onya justice. i've really wanted to hear her perspective on things and more than ever with all the weird discourse like expectation becomes the demand and the bare minimum amongst fans, and it disproportionately affects black queens. it’s telling that the summation of kinky boots was met with assumptions of onya being “hard to work with”. and the whole debating around who is most “deserving” (amongst drag race fans) misses the point. like this platform is about the individuals and the community and the art? "deserving" is always gonna be framed as subjective but why does it feel the "track record means nothing" talk only comes up when it's about a black queen clearly pulling ahead of the pack and excelling. fuck like she was uplifting the other girls too and all she ever did was stand up for herself and others. this shit doesn’t just stay in the fandom because the people within the fandom carry these biases into their day to day and god i wish they’d mind their business or at least take the energy that they spend attempting to tear down the queens that aren’t to their “preferences” and spend that energy on the same level of introspection. i’m so happy that onya is more sure than herself than ever and will continue to go her own way, she deserves the fucking world.

@bkteacherret5548 4 months ago

Great interview! I’m so glad I managed to miss all the aftermath of negativity towards Onya, probably because I mostly stay off of social media. Onya’s presence on the runway and in challenges was undeniable from the get-go. She is a powerhouse entertainer. I was thrilled when she won. And, Yvie, I look forward to seeing the two of you collab. That’s definitely something to be high key about!

@bm4114 4 months ago

2k a week for that role is robbery

@Hubajube 4 months ago

The more I see of Onya. the more I think That's my favorite Drag Race winner out of drag.

And this podcast is top level. The best conversations come out of this.

@marleyobrien12 4 months ago

Onya talking about her painting practice is SO COOL!!! LOVE AN INTERDISCIPLINARY QUEEN

@CocoaCookies_ 4 months ago

Ever since Onya won, I felt like she wasn’t getting enough shine or attention. I wasn’t seeing her do a lot of interviews or appearances, but the few I did see her in I noticed they weren’t really getting much traction. It’s been so strange. She deserves it all.

@spaceb7975 4 months ago

Loveeeedd this. so great to hear her talk about the Kinky boots situation, it's really unfortunate what happened and Onya deserved better

@aaronpischke5019 4 months ago

Onya might be the sweetest drag race winner we've EVER had, so the fact that ANYONE has been mean to her is just proof that people are either jealous, stupid, racist, or all of the above

@chrisroyale7626 4 months ago

Yes Onya. I’m glad to hear you stood for your worth and talent.

@jmtzɛn 4 months ago (edited)

wow, I didnt even know that happened to onya. Always rooted for her from the beginning. I hope she continues to succeed and PLEASE fight through bullcrap the fans put you through!