How Many Emmy’s Does ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Have?
Since RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered over ten years ago, this reality competition show snatched wigs and awards left and right. That is especially true of the Emmy’s, where for the past few years RuPaul’s Drag Race and the show’s spin-off series, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked earned multiple awards and nominations. How many Emmy’s does RuPaul’s Drag Race? How many Emmy’s was the show nominated for this year? Here’s what we know.
VH1’s reality competition series, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ is now on its twelfth season
Ten years ago, RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered with all of its yellow-hued filter glory. Since then, this reality competition series burst into pop culture, branching off into other television shows. There’s RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars, and, most recently, RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK.
But RuPaul didn’t stop there; the drag performer created the world’s largest drag culture convention, entitled RuPaul’s DragCon. Additionally, since its creation, the reality competition earned multiple Emmy Awards and nominations.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ already holds multiple Emmy Awards
Prior to the 2019 Emmy Awards, RuPaul’s Drag Race earned nine Emmy Awards and a handful of nominations. According to Variety, “on Emmy night last year, Drag Race also made history: It became the first program to win both reality competition series and reality or competition host in the same year.”
“Having chosen a form of show business that no one had really done before, you’ve got to make it up as you go along. That’s where being an artist comes in. You have to create your own life,” RuPaul said during his Emmy interview. “There’s no place for a black, blonde drag queen — unless you create it. On our show, we’ve made a place for a black, blonde drag queen. You have to customize the life you were meant to have.”
What awards were ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked’ nominated in for this year’s Emmy’s?
In total, the Drag Race franchise snatched 14 nominations at this year’s Emmy’s. For RuPaul’s Drag Race, that includes Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Competition Program, Outstanding Casting For A Reality Program, and Outstanding Competition Program. RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked earned two nominations, Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program and Outstanding Picture Editing For An Unstructured Reality Program.
This is not the only show highlighting members of the LGBTQ community. Netflix’s original series, Queer Eye, also earned a handful of nominations at this year’s Emmy’s. During an interview with NME, All-Stars 3 winner Trixie Mattel reflected on the success of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye.
“Well, the thing is, gay people are behind everything,” Trixie Mattel said. “They’re already behind every great TV show, or album, or fashion show. I guess now there are more people talking about it, but gay people already work at every great magazine. Anytime there’s political unrest, like right now, minority groups push back with their culture and their art. The same thing happened during and directly after Nazism in Germany. There was this huge queer culture rush. Gay people are on top no matter what. Now people are just talking about it more.”
The 2019 Emmy Awards broadcast on Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. EDT. Episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race are available for streaming on VH1.com and the VH1 app.
