The drag queens of We’re Here on filming the series in conservative US towns: “There were moments where we had to be wary”
Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka speak about being reported to the police for being in drag whilst filming We're Here.
Arriving in the UK today is HBO's We're Here – a docuseries in which Drag Race alumni Shangela, Bob the Drag Queen and Eureka tour small, conservative towns across America whilst recruiting local residents to perform in a one-night-only drag show.
Over the course of six episodes, the trio travel to Idaho, Louisiana and New Mexico among other states, giving a number of community members a complete drag make-over whilst learning about their personal lives and boosting their self-confidence.
The iconic drag queens have revealed that whilst filming the show, they found "love for the queer community in places that you don't always expect", they did receive some resistance from people within these Trump-supporting towns, requiring the show's production team to be "careful" in certain areas.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Eureka O'Hara said: "I come from a lot of these areas so I mean some of the landscapes are a little different but the energies are kind of the same across the board when it comes to the small town culture, especially when it comes to hidden queer culture."
They continued: "There are people who are very anti-you in the community – there's moments where we had to be wary and the production company had to be careful not to have us interrupt certain things."
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Eureka added that whilst filming in Ruston, Louisiana, the We're Here cast were asked by city ordinants not to attend the town's Mardi Gras festival in full drag as it was a 'family friend event'. "Those are the words that are thrown around a lot – 'family friendly' – and something that Bob and Shangela mention in one of our episodes in Missouri is that we have families too."
Eureka also said however that while they get "a little bit of resistance", they also get "a tonne of love".
Their co-star Shangela Laquifa Wadley also revealed how she found touring conservative towns in drag, saying that in one episode, a resident called the police after seeing the queens in drag on the street. "We would go into these towns and yes, in some of them, there are moments that are very shocking – like 'Oh my God they tried to call the police on you just for being in drag on the street or didn't allow you to have their show in that space.'"
She continued: "But the really cool thing that in a lot of these towns, people showed up for drag and they did have love for the queer community in places that you don't always expect that it will happen."
Bob the Drag Queen also added that there was a lot of acceptance in the towns they visited for We're Here. "There were some moments that may have been a bit nerve-racking, but I get nerve-racked when I'm in LA, I get nerve-wracked when I'm in New York City."
"There was a lot of acceptance in these towns and it shows in the amount of people who turned out to these events, I think it shows in the people who agreed to participate, I think it shows in the people who allowed us to perform in their spaces as well," she said. "I don't want paint the image that small towns are bad and full of nasty people because that was not my experience."
We're Here airs on Sky One at 9pm tonight, with the whole series available to stream on NOW TV. Find out the best movies available on NOW TV with a Sky Cinema Pass, or check out our TV Guide for more to watch.
