Former contestant of RuPaul’s Drag Race Tyra has been slammed online for making a crass joke in the wake of the recent death of James Lee Williams AKA The Vivienne.
When news broke out that the drag queen who won the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK passed away from unknown circumstances, tributes began to pour out for The Vivienne.
However, outrage was sparked online when Drag Race season two winner Tyra immediately made a crude joke on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) about the tragic death.
Hours after news of The Vivienne’s death, Tyra retweeted one of the deceased’s old posts and added a line mocking her.
“Bet Tyra was fuming when she realised Netflix spoiled the win too. Sorry gal. You tried though,” read The Vivienne’s tweet from 2020.
“Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium,” Tyra posted today.
In response to the poor-taste comment, American drag queen Kandy Muse absolutely slammed Tyra for the “disgusting” behaviour.
“I’ve defended you for years but now you can absolutely go fuck yourself,” Muse wrote.
Another X user pointed out the sad behaviour of going back to a tweet from half a decade ago, as soon as you hear someone has passed away.
“It’s so sad that she even remembered this tweet from 5 years ago… like how?” they wrote.
After copping loads of criticism for the initial tweet, Tyra then doubled down on her joke about The Vivienne’s death, and posted that she was enjoying the hate received for the crude joke.
“She’s dead. Rotting. Sending me all the hate in the world won’t bring her back. But do as you must,” she said.”
The Vivienne passed away at the age of 32, and is currently being remembered by family as “an incredibly loved, warm-hearted and amazing person”.
Lead Image: Drag Race.
