The Drag Race community has been left heartbroken after the news that UK winner The Vivienne died aged 32 at the weekend.
The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams, won the first ever UK version of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2019 and was a beloved performer.
They were described as having ‘pure star quality and pure raw talent’ by friend and publicist Simon Jones, who first broke the news.
RuPaul, 64, also hailed them as ‘an incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being.’
As tributes flooded social media, drag queen best known as Tyra Sanchez, 36, sparked outrage by seeming to mock The Vivienne’s death with a ‘crematorium’ tweet.
Fans have been calling on RuPaul to revoke Tyra’s winner status and while he has not given a statement, a shady TikTok appeared on the icon’s account.
A video of the Drag Race host laughing before slapping Tyra — now called King Tyra — across the face was shared to the account.
The slap was staged for the final acting challenge in season two of the original US show, which the controversial queen went on to win.
RuPaul added no caption or additional comment but fans took this as the host’s response to the situation.
User LPM commenting: ‘Tyra Sanchez count your days😡!!Thank you Ru🩷🩷.’
‘Just watching this on a loop for a few mins for The Viv,’ wrote Hufflepuff_Katy.
‘The timing of this mother I’m SCREAMING,’ said Bee as jenniferkoolidge added: ‘This is so shady and I am LIVINGGGG for it 🤣😭.’
Other followers declared runner-up Raven, who is now RuPaul’s makeup artist, as the ‘new winner’ of season two.
Tyra, real name James William Ross IV, was a controversial choice for winner in 2010 after clashing with the other queens in their season.
Since then, they have been embroiled in multiple incidents with other drag artists from the show, such as sharing a mock obituary for Morgan McMichaels.
Regarding The Vivienne, Tyra reposted a tweet from July 2020, in which the Dancing on Ice star wrote: ‘Bet Tyra was fuming when she realised Netflix Spoiled the win too. Sorry gal. You tried though.’
Hours after their death was announced, the US drag queen replied: ‘Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium.’
Among the backlash was a message from season 13 queen Kandy Muse, who replied: ‘I’ve defended you for years but now you can absolutely go f*** yourself and if our path were to ever cross it’s absolutely on sight, it’s not a threat it’s a promise. you disgusting person.’
Tyra replied: ‘Threat received. Prepare your funeral.’
They later posted to their Instagram page a message about how ‘haters’ were keeping their name relevant, adding they were sending ‘two fingers in the sky to those who had left us’.
Tributes continue to come in for The Vivienne, who appeared on Blankety Blank just weeks before their death.
Screenwriter Russell T Davies wrote that, after meeting a couple of times, he found the drag superstar to be ‘absolutely delightful.’
‘And what a talent!’, he declared. ‘On the cusp of graduating to West End stardom. What a world. Night, darling.’
Drag Race judge Michelle Visage described the performer as ‘a beacon to so many’ and added she was ‘heartbroken’ and lost for words.
Metro has reached out to RuPaul’s reps for comment.
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