RuPaul’s Drag Race UK ‘deeply sorry’ after Black Peppa and Baby error
Black Peppa branded the error “lazy and disgusting”.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK has faced heavy criticism after mixing up the names of two Black contestants, Baby and Black Peppa, on social media.
In the now-deleted social media clip following her elimination Dakota Schiffer was asked who she had grown closest to on this year’s cast and she answered Starlet, Baby, and Danny Beard.
However, when she said Baby’s name, an image of Black Peppa appeared instead.
On Monday (7 November), Drag Race UK’s team took to Twitter to apologise for the error, stating they were “so deeply sorry” for the mistake.
“We have sincerely apologised to both Baby and Black Peppa and we also want to extend our heartfelt apologies to anyone else that this post offended,” their tweet read.
“As soon as the mistake was spotted, the post in question was removed from all of our platforms,” the statement continued. “Once again, our sincerest apologies.”
Baby, who finished eighth on the season, tweeted about the incident on Monday: “I know I’m late to the party but I genuinely hope the person who edited [Dakota Schiffer’s] farewell video gets f***ing fired.
“It’s so embarrassing that someone on the [Drag Race UK] socials team can’t differentiate between the only two black girls on the cast,” the 26-year-old added
Black Peppa quote tweeted Baby’s tweet, adding: “I second that! It’s honestly lazy and disgusting”.
Responding to another tweet that suggested content may pass through numerous people’s approval, Baby stated: “It’s just crazy to me because they would never confuse Danny for Pixie or Dakota for Starlet…”
“But, when it comes to the black girls, everyone wants to play dumb, deaf and blind,” she continued.
Many online were furious about the Drag Race error, mixing up the only two Black contestants and amongst those calling out the error Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 star, Bombae, tweeted: “I hope that twink was fired.”
“This is actually disgusting,” wrote another fan.
Another called out the mistake, stating: “an apology isn’t sufficient in undoing the harm this post did.”
“Mistaking one black queen on the show for another is a pattern of racial abuse we’ve seen on the show from its beginning,” they continued. “This post underlies a need to investigate racial bias across the entire RPDR team.”
After Drag Race UK‘s apology Baby tweeted: “Shout out the the [sic] @dragraceukbbc socials team for taking responsibility for their actions. Thank you”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK continues on BBC Three and the Player on Thursdays from 9pm.