For Millennials. By Millennials.
Friday’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race stirred controversy when guest-judge Jeff Goldblum posed an inappropriate question about Islam to contestant Jackie Cox. And to make the matter worse, show-host RuPaul did not intervene to stop Goldblum. Instead, the drag queen entertained the query. Goldblum explicitly asked the Middle-Eastern contestant of Iranian heritage if Islam was anti-gay and anti-woman, much to the dismay of Muslims all over the world. In response to Goldblum’s questions, Jackie Cox explained the intricacies of the matter and diverted the discussion towards Islamophobia in America.
Canadian-Iranian contestant Jackie Cox intelligently designed a costume for the “Stars & Stripes” patriotic theme. She walked the runway donning a kaftan with red stripes and a blue hijab decorated elaborately with 50 stars from the American flag. In a voiceover, Cox reinforced,
“You can be Middle-Eastern, you can be Muslim and you can still be American.”
Jeff Goldblum Flings Islamophobic Query At Contestant Jackie Cox On RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12
As she concluded her performance, judge Jeff Goldblum had a query in store for the critiques. The Jurrasic World 3 star, who was serving as a guest-judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12, ambivalently. inquired “Is there something in this religion that is anti-homosexuality and anti-woman? Does that complicate the issue? I’m just raising it and thinking out loud and maybe being stupid.” Goldblum also asked Cox if she was religious. And while he was throwing the questions at the contestant. RuPaul backed up the co-judge, adding drag has always “shaken the tree” and if there was ever a place to make that sort of statement, “this is the stage to do it.”
While Cox elaborated that it was a ‘complex issue’, she drew the conversation towards her own identity.
“What is so important to me is that if you just happen to be different, then live that truth. I had to show America that you can be LGBT and from the Middle East. And there’s going to be complicated (expletive) around that and that’s OK. But I’m here and I deserve to be in America just as much as anyone else.”
Cox then went on to talk about the Muslim ban in America. She told Goldblum that the ban had deeply affected her family, and destroyed her faith in America.
Goldblum Under fire For Islamophobic Query
Social media was enraged after the episode. People called out Goldblum for his dangerous comments about Islam, clearly mentioning that the grilling was hurtful.
“That statement by Jeff Goldblum that Islam as a religion is anti-woman and anti LGBT was so incredibly uneducated and dangerous and hurtful,” tweeted @femmesnowflake.
Poet Omer Sakr also responded angrily to Jeff Goldblum’s remarks.
Jeff Goldblum felt the need to say "but isn't Islam anti-gay and anti-woman" to Jackie because she was wearing a stars-and-stripes hijab, as if America hasn't been anti-gay and anti-woman from the outset, or killed and displaced millions of Muslims, including women and queers…
— Omar Sakr (@omarsakrpoet) April 25, 2020
People also pointed out that if the contestant had been of some other religion, the question would never have been asked.
“That question wouldn’t have happened to any other queen, of any other race. they are exploiting her on the stage in such a gross way by making her defend an entire religion she already said she doesn’t practice????” tweeted @nicolahearts.
