Anetra on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

‘Drag Race’s’ Anetra is a Queer Asian Force to be Reckoned With

An interview with the duckwalking queen making history this season

Anetra on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Courtesy of MTV

Strutting into the Werkroom of the RuPaul’s Drag Race season premiere, in an electric yellow-and-black ensemble, adorned with silver spikes, was a queer Asian icon in the making. Anetra, a Filipinx and Japanese drag queen based in Las Vegas, is making history on the hit television series—and becoming a viral sensation on social media in the process.

During last month’s premiere, Anetra was added to the very short list of Filipinx and Japanese challenge winners in the U.S. Drag Race franchise’s history. She won the talent show episode with a legendary performance that included a lip-sync to her own original track, where the superstar duckwalked, dipped, and split to the music. She even managed to break not just one, but two, wooden boards on beat as a showcase of her talents in tae kwon do.

The winning performance surpassed 500,000 likes and 11 million views from both Anetra’s and Drag Race’s Instagram pages combined.

“How much it blew up online is very crazy, but in that moment, I didn’t know I was gonna win,” Anetra tells me over a recent Zoom interview. “I had a feeling it would be received well just because I know my capabilities and what I can do. But I didn’t know I was gonna win, just because I didn’t know what the other girls had [prepared].”

These capabilities she references include years of training in tae kwon do, which Anetra said was a philosophy and art form that helped her embrace her Asianness and difference. “With martial arts, you never see Asianness as a weakness,” she says. “In fact, it’s seen as quite the opposite.”

Anetra’s board-breaking performance on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” went viral.

Courtesy of MTV

Board-breaking aside, fans also loved a line in her performance track—“You better walk that fucking duck!”—so much that it became an instant quotable hit, even with host RuPaul herself. “I didn’t know that it was gonna be a catch phrase until the third or fourth episode because Ru just kept saying it and I was like, ‘I’m not funny, she’s gonna get over it and I’ll have my 15 minutes of fame and that’ll be it,’ and um, she just kept saying it! She loved to say it and it caught on! I didn’t think I’d be the catchphrase girl but, here we are!”

Social media has also made Anetra a trending topic as a large number of fans have been thirsting for her outside of drag—and I am absolutely one of them. But this attraction to Anetra out of drag is another facet of how trailblazing her moment is in the spotlight, as we’re getting a rare television depiction of Asian men, especially Southeast Asian men, as sexually desirable.

“It feels very strange cause I didn’t think I’d be considered the ‘trade’ of the season,” says Anetra, referencing the term “trade” used in queer culture for gay men who appear hyper-masculine and attractive. “It definitely feels new, which it shouldn’t cause, hi, we’re here! And Asians are hot! Like, when it’s right, it’s right!”

But Anetra is not just a viral hit, a catchphrase loved by the masses or an incredibly hot man—she’s also a queen serving as a core part of history being made. This season of Drag Race is the first season where three AA+PI drag queens have been cast on the show together. Anetra was cast alongside fellow Filipinx queen, Aura Mayari, and trans Pacific Islander queen, Sasha Colby. Notably, all three AA+PI queens have secured a challenge win with only six episodes into the season.

“It feels incredible seeing [AA+PI] girls in different seasons, but having more of them in one and seeing more of us in general is always something to be happy about,” Anetra says. “It’s really big to see three AA+PI girls, and especially to see two more masculine-presenting Filipino girls, cause those are things we haven’t seen on Drag Race a lot. Like, bitch, yes! We are the girls! The Asian dolls!”

The pool of AA+PI queens in the U.S. franchise has always been small, and marks an important conversation about representation in the show—especially considering the last Asian winner we had was Raja in 2011, more than a decade ago. This makes seeing someone so unapologetically Asian, and so familial in my culture like Anetra, succeeding on Drag Race even more satisfying.

“When I lean into my Asianness in my drag, I find so much power in it,” Anetra says. “When I present the woman I am presenting in drag, I present something that I would love to see for myself and also my younger self. When I bring touches of Asianness when I do drag, I think about how growing up I didn’t have a queer icon that was somebody that looked like me. That is a huge thing for me.”

Anetra shared her experiences growing up with a Filipino and Japanese father and how her queer and Asian intersectional identity has impacted her life before Drag Race, and today as it airs.

“It’s definitely hard to be a queer person and an Asian person at the same time,” says Anetra. “I think an Asian household is often very strict, very tight. There’s often a very strict set of rules and for Asian families, your family has an idea of what they want you to be, what job you’d want to have, and what spouse you’re going to have.”

But, Anetra emphasized her values of harnessing her identity, especially now being on the Drag Race platform, and putting her heart and happiness first—a hopeful role model for queer AA+PI youth who are cheering for her from their bedrooms, in the biggest progressive cities to the smallest conservative towns, across the world.

Anetra (front row, second from left) as “Gorgena Ramsey,” on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Courtesy of MTV

“I thought my father growing up was not going to be the one that would accept me or be okay with who I was and what I wanted to do with my life, and I thought that my mother would be the one to accept me. But it happened to be the exact opposite,” says Anetra. “It is a very nice surprise for me just because growing up as an Asian kid, and my dad being from Hawaii and being Japanese and Filipino, I knew that he was a very tough man. I always feared my father, so, it meant the world to me to know that he loves who I am, honestly. For me, that was very important and we’re currently still waiting on my mom to come around. I’m open to having a conversation and educating her if she has any questions, but, again that’s one of those things where you have to put yourself and your happiness first at the end of the day.”

I resonate with the sentiments Anetra has shared, which exemplifies the importance of having queer Asian figures like Anetra on the most visible queer show in modern television. It provides space for our narratives, and potentially even our healing.

Anetra (far right) with a few of her fellow drag queens on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Courtesy of MTV

My own father and I bonded in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown watching Drag Race. Seeing Filipinx drag queen Rock M. Sakura on season 12 helped my dad understand further what me being queer and Asian looked like, affording him a glimpse at what supporting your LGBTQIA+ child could result in—such as, having your queer Filipinx son become a star shining excellently on a global stage like Drag Race. It’s undoubtable that Anetra, Aura, and Sasha will be incredible examples for so many AA+PI queer youth at home to look up to, potentially providing generational connections and inspire acceptance from AA+PI parents to their queer children as the show did for me and my dad.

“My dad is very supportive of my career on Drag Race, he loves it. I’ve never seen my dad so excited about anything because that man has had one face growing up and it was this,” Anetra says before mocking the masculine, expressionless face of her father. “But now he’s so excited and he’s always calling me trying to figure out what the [next episode] is about on the show, which I love. My dad and I didn’t really have a great relationship growing up, but I think now it’s nice to have him around and see him support and love what I’m doing. So it’s really great. Very unexpected.”

So, as the competition of America’s Next Drag Superstar continues this season, we have our fingers crossed for Anetra to take home the crown. If not for her talent, star power, and sex appeal alone, the crown should rightfully sit on her head for the history and representation she’s forging with every smooth step in her stiletto heels.

Published on February 15, 2023

Words by Andre Lawes Menchavez

Andre Lawes Menchavez (he/him) is a Filipinx, Indigenous and queer community organizer who uses journalism as a tool of activism, constantly seeking to lift up marginalized communities through his work. He received his bachelor of arts degree in law, societies and justice at the University of Washington and his master of arts in specialized journalism—with a focus in race and social justice reporting—from the University of Southern California. Find him on Instagram at @itsjustdrey.