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Freaky Money: How RuPaul’s Compassion For Lucian Piane Is Probably More Financial Than Friendly

By Jonathan Brown
Published on: 08:42 PST, Nov 29, 2016

The Dalai Lama once famously stated that compassion, along with love, is one of life’s truest necessities.

“Without them,” he wisely surmised, “humanity cannot survive.”

Of course, such as with all attempts to live one’s best life, standing by such a vow is much easier said than done. However, if you plan to do so, perhaps it’s best to be genuine in one’s practice of it, or at least, do so in a way where it is nearly impossible to uncover your true intent.

Such is the case with reality host and LGBT icon RuPaul, a well-known and beloved public figure whom, in the past on the Inquisitr, I’ve shared some personal grievances about. Unfortunately, as much as I would like nothing more than to forgive, forget, and ultimately make nice with the RuPaul’s Drag Race hostess — especially since there aren’t many openly queer, African-American personas I can look up to — her latest public opinion in regards to the alleged mental troubles of songwriter/producer Lucian Piane has only deepened and solidified my negative viewpoint of her.

[Image by Imeh Akpanudosen/Stringer/Getty Images]

Over the past few weeks, as noted by both Towerload and the Washington Blade, Piane, who has worked with Ru on several of her albums including 2014’s Born Naked, RuPaul’s highest charting Billboard LP since her 1993 debut, has been on quite the terrifying Twitter tear that many feel are a side effect of an unpublicized mental disorder.

Just recently, the 36-year-old took to the social media site to, in part, nonsensically denounce the negative stigma attached to the “N-word” by somehow lovingly referring to RuPaul as one.

“If black people stopped being so ashamed of themselves, we could call them n***ers and they would laugh,” Piane posted. “I love RuPaul, and he’s the wisest n***er I know!”

In response, rather than join the angry chorus of those continuously calling for Piane to be removed from the site, RuPaul, 56, chose to go a different route by asking people to be more sympathetic about the overall matter.

From the outside, the feeling behind RuPaul’s remarks may seem kind to some, but to other Twitter users such as WesleyRambles, a very selfish double standard from the LGBT icon has once again made itself known.

For those who don’t follow Ru or RuPaul’s Drag Race, the “Phi Phi” in question is Phi Phi O’Hara (Jaremi Carey), a controversial RPDR alum who was last seen during the similarly-controversial All-Stars 2 season earlier this year.

Following his elimination, which actually took place in 2015 when AS2 was filmed, an incensed O’Hara took to the media to express that promises made by the crew of RPDR to help him redeem some semblance of humanity following his first “villainous” go-through on the show’s third season were reneged upon in order to amplify drama and in turn, boost ratings for the show.

After he spoke out, Ru did something small to some, but extreme in the face of the “mother hen” persona that she displays week in and week out on RuPaul’s Drag Race: she unfollowed Phi Phi on Twitter, and she didn’t do so quietly, either.

“When I saw that she unfollowed me [and] put [up a] little snarky [comment about my] cosplay [as] Jessica Rabbit, I completely lost all my respect for RuPaul,” O’Hara told Vulture earlier this year. “Because she has the power to stand up and say, ‘You know what, this show is only for entertainment purposes. The edit for Phi Phi is not authentic to who Phi Phi is, and I wish you guys would just sit there and see that.'”

Additionally, during the AS2 reunion (which O’Hara chose not to attend), a shady RuPaul stoked the flames of contention toward Phi Phi and other unhappy competitors from seasons past with help from a sparkly “poo emoji” paddle.

“If at any point you feel that your fellow queens aren’t telling the [truth],” she stated with an obvious attitude, “feel free to raise the paddle provided to you and call ‘bulls**t.'”

“For example, if one of you were to say, ‘I blame the edit [for making me look bad],’ then I’d say, ‘bulls**t.'”

So much for showing compassion there, I guess.

Stranger still, it’s not just matters related to her stronghold in entertainment where Ru fails to adhere to her so-called consideration of real-life issues.

In September, as shared by Hello Giggles, when another Twitter user inquired why she had refrained from speaking out on the Black Lives Matter movement, Ru crudely dismissed him — in her defense, he did come on rather strongly, but still somewhat respectfully — and claimed that the diversity of her show allowed her the privilege to not make a public statement about BLM.

“Bitch, I’m a 55 [year] old gay, black man,” he responded. “I’ve fought c**ts at every turn. #DontTryMe.”

(Mind you, not one of those 100 queens would’ve actually made it onto RuPaul’s Drag Race without having careers beforehand, but I digress.)

Regardless of what one takes away from any of these mentions, it’s interesting to me how the level of compassion that RuPaul seemingly has for a subject depends on the level of importance that it has to her bank account. For example, with RuPaul’s Drag Race recently being green-lit for a ninth season, as reported by EW, it’s obvious that despite the cries of a few queens, audiences will still be tuning in, which means Ru still has a paying job. Therefore, she doesn’t really have much to worry about when it comes to that.

As for the tragic Lucian Piane situation, the damage has mostly been done to his future career, not Ru’s, and she has already achieved the greatest success she’ll ever have through him, as well as the spoils that will come from future downloads and streams of the sounds he helped create. It makes sense that she wouldn’t detach herself from him publicly at this time, but being polite in the hopes that he’ll somehow get the treatment he truly needs means that he’ll owe her a couple of favors in the future.

When it comes to her stance on Black Lives Matter… well, I’ll let you guys work that one out for yourself.

In my opinion, at the end of the day, RuPaul has somehow figured out a way to turn the rarely exuded act of human compassion into the promise of fruitful, financial compensation, and that sadly has become her only necessity in this life. Man, what a drag.

[Featured Image by Mike Coppola/Getty Images]

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