Naomi Smalls maybe sums it up best. "I've had my share of people disliking what I do/how I live my life but it's not their life to live," she says of her experience with internet trolls. "I've been wearing platform heels, makeup, and painting my nails since 11th grade. I've developed a thick skin."

And it's true. Drag queens — especially those thrust into the blinding spotlight cast from the multi-Emmy winning juggernaut RuPaul's Drag Race — have developed thick skins. In fact, the sometimes harsh, sometimes racist criticism from diehard fans has meant they've had no choice but to.



It's no secret that almost every queen from the show has had their fair share of haters in the past. After all, the show's premise involves a dozen or so contestants competing to become "America's next drag superstar" through a series of challenges that are judged by a panel including RuPaul. But it's also true that the black queens who've entered the Drag Race ring have endured blatantly racist criticism from fans since it burst into the mainstream.

Only last year, season 10's Asia O'Hara posted a note on social media that said she feared for her safety after someone threatened to burn her alive because of the color of her skin. Season 8 winner Bob the Drag Queen pointed out that most of the popular Drace Race queens were "thin and white", adding that, at the time, RuPaul was the only black queen from the show with more than a million followers on Instagram. In her words: "It's not the show. It's the fandom."

The irony? The show is, of course, fronted by arguably the most successful drag queen of all time, who just so happens to be black herself.



But just how much does race affect the performance and careers of black Drag Race contestants? BuzzFeed News spoke to four queens with differing opinions to find out.

