Don’t expect to hear the music of Yuri on any iteration of RuPaul’s Drag Race soon. Drag Race México host Valentina revealed that she stopped a song from being used by the pop star who has previously said homophobic comments.
While doing press for Drag Race México, Valentina talked about some drama from when she appeared as a guest judge on Drag Race España earlier this month. According to the Mexican-American drag star, there were plans to use a song by Yuri in the Lip Sync for Your Life during her time there. Valentina spoke out against that decision while letting the production team know that Yuri had fallen out with the LGBTQ+ community.
“Production, I am from Mexico,” she said in Spanish. “I am Mexican and I am not going to sit there like a pendeja with a Yuri song. I mean [she has] a very good voice, a very good career, but when you don’t support the people who made you a star, I can’t sit there.”
Valentina’s complaint against Yuri swayed the Drag Race España team to pick another song. During that episode, contestants Clover Bish and Hornella Góngora instead did the Lip Sync for Your Life to “Vas a Volverme Loca” by Spanish singer Natalia.
Yuri’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community started deteriorating in 2017. During an interview with CNN, the Mexican singer opined that same-sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt. Yuri, who is also an Evangelical Christian, said in Spanish, “My life instructions say that [adopting a child] is for a man and a woman.”
Yuri seemingly doubled down on that homophobic stance by promoting the controversial movie Pink, which portrayed a same-sex couple with an adopted child in a bad light. In 2021, she later perpetuated the harmful stereotype that people in the LGBTQ+ community have sexually transmitted infections while on El Escorpión Dorado’s YouTube show.
With Valentina co-hosting Drag Race México with Lolita Banana, there’s a good chance Yuri’s music won’t be allowed on there either. The third season of Drag Race España wrapped last night with Pitita taking the title of “Spain’s Next Drag Superstar.”