This article was originally published on the DIASPORA Newsletter on August 21, 2025. Read and subscribe here!
In the first episode of Drag Race: Slaysian Royale, Madame Yoko, a queen from Drag Belgique Season 2 (that’s Belgium to us Americans), and Kitty Space, a queen from Drag Race France Season 2, are asked how old they were when they first visited Vietnam as they get ready for the main stage runway show.
“I was 12 years old,” answers Kitty Space.
“I was older…way older,” says Madame Yoko. “I was like, almost 20, 23,” and she admits that he doesn’t think he would go back.
“For me, it was a journey with my adoptive parents,” she says. “I had some issues when I was a teenager… once you’re a teenager, you are looking for who you are, and I thought at the time that maybe my roots back [at] Vietnam would help me to find who I was.”
She continued, “When I landed in Hanoi with my parents, I came out of the gates of the airport [and] I didn’t recognize myself in the faces I could see… I didn’t connect. I discovered that I was not a real Vietnamese guy in my heart — but a Belgian one.”
Madame realized that she was a “real European guy” who loves Belgian beer and Belgian fries. “It was kind of a relief.”
In her talking head interview, Kitty Space says, “I felt really comfortable to see someone else who is Asian [and] adopted… and I was really touched by Yoko, because I can feel myself in her story.”
Madame Yoko goes on to say, “Being part of Slaysian Royale is a proud [moment] for me… I already know that I will enjoy this season a lot, because I will be surrounded by people who look like me.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race has spun off many iterations from its flagship here in the U.S., but none like Slaysian Royale. There have been iterations like RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs. The World, Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World, and RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars. But there hasn’t been an iteration where Drag Race has united a single diaspora for friendly competition. In this case, it’s the Asian diaspora… or should I say… the Slaysian di-ASS-pora?
Drag Race is a kiki and a queer ol’ time filled with shade. The show serves lewks, and it’s probably the greatest show on television. It’s a world that I wish were our reality. And just when I thought I couldn’t love it more, Slaysian Royale comes out and unexpectedly gives this dissertation about Asian identity.
Friendly reminder: Asian identity is not a monolith. It’s not just limited to East Asia. There’s a whole continent that includes hundreds of cultures on end, which makes sense why Drag Race decided to create Slaysian Royale to showcase all of these incredible cultures. What better stage to present these cultures than the Philippines, a country where you can find some of the most jaw-dropping drag? And I’m not just saying that because I’m Filipino.
In addition to Madame Yoko and Kitty Space, Slaysian Royale includes Asians from all corners of the globe including: Arizona Brandy (Drag Race Philippines Season 2), Bernie (Drag Race Philippines Season 2), Brigiding (Drag Race Philippines Season 1), Ivory Glaze (Drag Race Down Under Season 3), Khianna (Drag Race Philippines Season 3), Siam Phusri (Drag Race Thailand Season 3), Suki Doll (Canada’s Drag Race Season 2) Sum Ting Wong (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 1), Viñas Deluxe (Drag Race Philippines Season 1), and Yuhua (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10).
Drag Race is a kiki and a queer ol’ time filled with shade. The show serves lewks, and it’s probably the greatest show on television. It’s a world that I wish were our reality. And just when I thought I couldn’t love it more, Slaysian Royale comes out and unexpectedly gives this dissertation about Asian identity.
Friendly reminder: Asian identity is not a monolith. It’s not just limited to East Asia. There’s a whole continent that includes hundreds of cultures on end, which makes sense why Drag Race decided to create Slaysian Royale to showcase all of these incredible cultures. What better stage to present these cultures than the Philippines, a country where you can find some of the most jaw-dropping drag? And I’m not just saying that because I’m Filipino.
In addition to Madame Yoko and Kitty Space, Slaysian Royale includes Asians from all corners of the globe including: Arizona Brandy (Drag Race Philippines Season 2), Bernie (Drag Race Philippines Season 2), Brigiding (Drag Race Philippines Season 1), Ivory Glaze (Drag Race Down Under Season 3), Khianna (Drag Race Philippines Season 3), Siam Phusri (Drag Race Thailand Season 3), Suki Doll (Canada’s Drag Race Season 2) Sum Ting Wong (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 1), Viñas Deluxe (Drag Race Philippines Season 1), and Yuhua (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10).
Later on in the episode, we find out that Madame Yoko and Sum Ting Wong are in the bottom two after a runway show where one of the categories was “From Roots to Runway,” where the queens had to showcase their heritage.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
We automatically assume that the Asian queens would showcase their Asian heritage, right? But the queens are more dressed to represent where they are from rather than their ethnic roots.
But listen, the Filipino queens did NOT. COME. TO. PLAY. Also, this week’s episode proves that Filipino queens can do some choreo and put on a PRODUCTION.
Later, we learn that Khianna and Siam Phusri are the top two queens of the week. Madame Yoko and Sum Ting Wong are the bottom two queens of the week, and they are in danger of being eliminated at the end of the episode, depending on who wins the lip sync between Khianna and Siam Phusri.
“They didn’t understand the fact that I wasn’t really in the representation of Asia with my outfit… but I was in the Belgian representation of my country of adoption,” Madame Yoko explains her Roots to Runway in the Werk Room.
The camera cuts to Sum Ting Wong crying. “I’ve always been that Asian.” The mood shifts in the room. Sum Ting Wong starts to become very emotional, and the music starts to match. All the queens’ attention are on Sum Ting Wong.
“The only heritage I know is British, and having the opportunities to learn my Asian self and beauty of all of you, the idea of it being taken away so [quickly]… really, really, really hurts.”
Madame Yoko empathizes, “I recognize myself in what you say, because they also didn’t find my Asian culture in my runway —”
Sum Ting Wong interrupts with tears in her beautifully made-up eyes, “Let me have a moment, please!”
And there it is. This is why we love Drag Race. Moments exactly like these.
Watching this episode was very interesting because of its approach to Asian identity. Asian in the United States isn’t necessarily what Asian is in the Philippines, or in Thailand, or even in China. Asian adoptees who have immigrated to other countries other than their country of origin have a very complex journey with identity that should be embraced.
Madame Yoko was eliminated. Her runway was kind of weak (sorry girl, I didn’t like it), but when she said she didn’t feel Vietnamese at heart, I heard a tinge of guilt in her voice like she didn’t feel Asian enough. My heart ached for her. At the same time, she felt happy that she knew who she was.
I was once asked if I related more to the Spanish side of being Filipino or the Asian side of being Filipino. I took a second to answer, but I said, with my tongue planted in my cheek, the Spanish side because I spent the majority of my life in Texas.
That question popped into my head as I watched Madame Yoko’s journey on Slaysian Royale. From a certain angle, it might look like she was eliminated because she wasn’t “Asian enough” — but I’m sure that wasn’t the case. And what is “Asian enough” anyway? It’s like saying you’re not “human enough”.
I didn’t expect to do a deep dive on the ins and outs of global Asian identity based on the first episode of Slaysian Royale. Frankly, navigating the obstacle course of Asian identity is obnoxious. More weight is often put on what is dictated by the external world rather than what is within the diaspora. In other words, colonialism got us here.
Not saying that I don’t enjoy that we have a group of Asian queens representing various Asian cultures from all over the world. (However, I wish there were more representation from the Brown Asian contingent — specifically the South Asian contingent, but there has to be a Drag Race: South Asia first). Watching the queens’ journeys is incredible and shows that we are not a monolith. I just wish we wouldn’t have to prove we aren’t all the same… because we shouldn’t have to.
It still rings loud in my head when Madame Yoko said, “I do not feel Vietnamese at heart.” Some may see that as offensive, but it shouldn’t be because it is her reality. Physically, Madame Yoko may be Asian, but culturally, she is Belgian, demystifying the colonizer’s perception of what it means to be Asian. You’d be surprised that there is a narrow-minded, monolithic colonizer perception that spills over into the Asian diaspora. It’s where the model minority myth came from.
Sum Ting Wong, Kitty Space, and every other queen on Slaysian Royale each represent a specific, individual journey in the Asian diaspora from all over the globe. It’s less about “how Asian you are” and more about creating a united front of a community that has long relied on physical identity for representation. What Asians look like is just part of the identity. It scratches the surface. Perhaps it’s time to stop pressuring Asians to prove their Asianness based on perceptions on societal expectations and demands.
Whether or not it was intentional, Slaysian Royale used queerness and drag as a thoughtful catalyst to start a conversation on what it means to be Asian.
Leave it to Drag Race to widen the scope of the comprehension of Asian identity around the globe.
