RuPaul's Drag Race star Elliott with 2 T's spilled all the tea following her run on season 13 — and things got a little messy.
The aftermath of the queen's appearance on Drag Race was littered with controversy after some of her fellow cast mates hinted at her being racist and transphobic towards them on the show, which landed her with the moniker "Elliott with 3 K's." Throughout it all, Elliott has remained tight-lipped, but over three years after her season premiered, she opened up on the latest episode of Exposed with Joseph Shepherd. The two even went as far as to watch clips of other queens talking about her and read the controversy section of her Wikipedia page, and Elliott specifically responded to each comment.
Sitting at an hour and seven minutes, the interview is littered with gag-worthy moments and quotes from Elliott. Here are a few of the most shocking...
"I didn't have a whole team to help me."
The shade kicked off early in the interview when Elliott discussed her audition tapes for the show. Unlike some of the other girls on the show, Elliott "didn't have a whole team to help me." Her submission was much more DIY, and she shares how much of an outsider she's always felt in various drag communities.
"I had a really long FaceTime with Bob."
Shephard played a clip of Elliott discussing Symone's drag and commending her for not being "overly aggressive," which was the kickoff point for the racist accusations. Afterwards, Elliott said she "had a really long facetime" with fellow Drag Race alum Bob the Drag Queen. "Bob just kind of broke it down and told me why it was upsetting and why it could be offensive to someone," said Elliott. "I wish that that was the reaction I would have gotten instead of, you know, trying to just take me down. I would have loved because I would know how would I have known that that could have been upsetting to someone that's my biggest fear is upsetting people or making people uncomfortable. And so I wish that I could have gotten that response to, 'Hey, this is what this means,' but I didn't know. And so I took it upon myself to reach out to a girlfriend of mine who's very close friends with the director of the NAACP in Las Vegas. And we did like an hour video of her explaining to me why what it could mean to people and why it could be upsetting. And I was, you know, I was trying to fix it. I was trying my best to make things better. But I think when people are so passionate about something like the drag race fans, once they've committed their, their heart and soul to something they, there's kind of no changing it."
"You can be ignorant but it doesn't make you a bad person."
She admitted that she made mistakes but she wish she was given more grace and understanding rather than condemnation. "You can absolutely be, you know, I don't want to say uneducated but uneducated. You can not know what you're saying and how it affects people. But I also think it's important for people to react a certain way. I mean, I can't tell anyone how to react, especially when it comes to emotions, but I think we should all give each other more grace because everyone makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect."
"I've never been a Trump supporter, like he makes me sick to my stomach."
Elliott addressed the rumors that she supported controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"That's the craziest thing ever because Trump is insane and there's nothing positive or good about him," she explained. "Any time he comes up on the news, I tell my husband to turn the TV off because his voice is just nauseating. This was a private Cadillac that I got to take in Vegas whenever I went to go visit. And it literally, I can't stand the man. I think he's disgusting. I've never been a Trump supporter like he makes me sick to my stomach. And this was just, I was excited about taking a private Cadillac in Vegas because it had been my first time in Vegas and I had a friend who paid for everything. And so it was just this big fancy weekend in town and this was the car that he had drive me around and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I think this was before anything with him because I don't see why I would ever post about him if he was as crazy as he is because he's absolutely insane. Like I'm voting, I voted Biden last time. I'm voting Biden again. I just, I can't with him. I think when people thought I was a Trump supporter that was like insane to me because even whenever I first started on Drag Race, I did online caucusing with people in what was the state?What was the last state that they did where they were trying to convince people to vote against him? I can't remember. But I did a facetime with a whole bunch of politicians to help, try to sway the vote the other way. And it was like five o'clock in the morning because of the time difference. And I woke up at like three in the morning to get in drag to help, to try to promote them to swing the vote the other way."
"I would have never known what dead naming was."
Shephard pulled up a screenshot of Elliott deadnaming Caitlyn Jenner while talking about her Vanity Fair cover on Instagram.
"This is from so many years ago. This is like 10 years ago and I would have never known how to react to this. I would have, I mean, 10 years ago, I probably, I was like a teenager. I think everybody, when they're teenagers, say stupid things. I would have never known what dead naming was. 10 years ago, I would have never known that. I mean, where on the farm am I gonna get that information?"
"It wasn't at a time that we were talking so openly about trans things and trans rights and verbiage and it just was something stupid. I mean, nobody likes the Kardashians. So I thought it was just playing off of the dumb Kardashian situation. But I mean, I never would ever want anyone to think that I was transphobic. I mean, this is stupid and I can absolutely see that, but it was stupid teenager stuff. I mean, my sister-in-law is trans and she comes to our house maybe once a month from Portland and it's not something that I would ever do to somebody. But again, I didn't understand it. I really didn't understand it. It just was stupid teenager stuff online."
"I can see that this is so just offensive and stupid and I just can't even say how dumb it is."
Another screenshot depicted Elliott talking about a Black Barbie doll on sale at a store.
"This is from when I was a teenager and I thought that I was doing like shock value of just saying something stupid to get a laugh out of somebody. I didn't think anything about race. I didn't think anything about her. I didn't think anything about that. I thought I was doing something silly and stupid to make somebody laugh. I never wanted to do anything that was insensitive. I just was trying to be silly and stupid because again, if you're in a group of people and they're all joking a certain way and then you as an outsider comes in and try to joke along with them, it doesn't hit the same and it may come off offensive. It's upsetting now, I can see like now I just, at this day and age, you know, 10+ years later seeing this, I can see that this is so just offensive and stupid and I just can't even say how dumb it is because it just, it hurts me to think that I thought this was funny and like, you know, but we all grow, we all learn about things that you may have thought funny 10 years ago are not funny anymore."
She went on, "Comedians say things, jokes and bits 10 years ago that now they could never say. This was just a point in my life where I think I was just desperate for attention because I felt so alone and so I was trying to post things to try to get a laugh or reaction. But now as an adult I think it's just, I don't think that it's funny at all. I think it's silly and just offensive and I just hate that I ever did that because there's nothing funny about it when these things started coming out about, like, your past and people started digging into these moments."
As these screenshots started popping up, Elliott said that she was "sick to my stomach because I, again, I couldn't believe that I had posted things like that because I don't feel that way about any of those things. I genuinely was just a dumb kid with an Instagram with 20 followers trying to get a laugh from somebody because I felt alone. I felt sad. I wanted friends. I wanted to be a cool kid. I wanted to be the kid that made everybody laugh, but I was just so hurt and broken inside from suffering every day from, you know, going to school and being beaten and attacked and just treated poorly for being gay. I desperately just wanted a group of people that I could just smile and laugh with. And so I think those were just desperate pleas for attention and that's was the main focus of posting stupid things like that and, but now seeing them today I'm just in shock that I even did that because it's just, it's offensive and nasty and I think it's just crazy that I even thought like that. But, you know, when you're a teenager, everybody is crazy when they're teenagers, everybody does stupid things when they're teenagers. But I just happened to put it online. That was where I was at fault. The internet is a beautiful thing, but a horrible thing at the same time. And if you're stupid online, it's there forever."
"Were they just using me and then whenever it was convenient, they were gonna go and trash me online?"
Shephard plays audio of her season 13 sisters Symone and Kandy Muse talking about Elliott's microaggressions during and after the show, Elliott blocking Kandy on social media, and Elliott's meet-up with the NAACP.
Elliot, who heard the audio on camera for the first time, responded, "What's really upsetting and hurtful about that is the fact that Symone says that she understands what I said and how it was misinterpreted. But then, with the lack of communication, she then started to think that it was what it was when she clearly said it wasn't and she knew it wasn't. I texted her many times after the fact, trying to connect with her and trying to have some understanding and some closure about that and she never responded and I was trying to do the right thing. If she wasn't going to respond to me, then I have to seek outside help to try to understand why what was said was upsetting. I mean, it just, it's really hurtful to hear that because, again, when we got together to film the promos because they always film the promos after the season wraps, everyone was in my hotel room because they knew I had vodka and everybody was friends and wanted to, you know, drink with me and whatnot. If they were so hurt and upset by things that were said or done during the season, why would they want to spend time with me? Why would they want to be my friend? Were they just using me and then whenever it was convenient, they were gonna go and trash me online. There were multiple interviews, you know, during press week where they talked about how nice I was and how generous I was and how I was always willing to help."
"It just feels like, I mean, if it's performative for me to try to connect with an outside source, then what is doing the right thing is doing? Is doing the right thing performative, you know, in its entirety?" she continued.
Shephard then replied, "I was taking it as she was saying, it was performative in the way of you going to the NAACP but you're not taking Kandy's criticism or these people or Symone's criticism in a group message and that you blocked Kandy, like did all of that stuff happen? Did they like actually like point it out to you?"
"Like, no," recalled Elliot. "I mean, the group text was just very, I mean, it just, it wasn't anything specifically targeted towards me. It wasn't anything specifically about me. Kandy, I ended up blocking her because I kept seeing her on microphones calling me Elliott with three K's at shows all over the country. There are cities that won't book me because of her saying that on the microphone. Anytime anybody asked me about Kandy, I never said anything negative about her. I never wanted to discredit anybody for my season. I never spoke ill of anybody and she constantly was pouring gasoline on the fire to try to hurt me. She said she doesn't want me to get bullied, but she was one of the driving forces behind it. And I just think that that's, I would never wish any ill will on any other Drag Race girls because we all go through hell being on the show. She, of all people would know that because she got so much hate from our season and she didn't deserve that. None of us do. It's hurtful to hear them say I get what she said. But then I decided that it was, it might not be what she said. But if that's the case come to me, like they all have my phone number, any one of them, I wish me and Symone could have had that conversation together instead of hearing it third party, I would have loved to have that conversation with her. I texted her multiple times and never got a response. And so to me that meant she doesn't care if I'm being bullied or not. And it just really hurt me a lot because again, I helped Symone a lot out on my season. She borrowed things from me multiple times, multiple episodes, multiple runways and it just, it hurts to think that I went out of my way for someone that I truly cared about and to get a response like that where, oh, I wish you well. And that just really sucks because I do very much care for Symone. I think she's incredible at what she does."
"I would never say the T word to anyone."
Shepherd plays a clip of Violet Chachki and Gottmik discussing a cast member who said transphobic things. Kandy Muse responded to the clip on TikTok, commenting, "It's Elliot." He directly asks Elliott if he said the transphobic slur when talking to Gottmik.
"I would never said that," she said. "Again, I knew none of this. Gottmik never once said to me, hey, I don't want to talk about that or I'm uncomfortable I knew none of this until this interview came out. So that was like a year later. So you're just holding that on to that for like a year. I just didn't know about it. It was shocking to me because I thought that I had had these bonding moments with Gottmik and that we had gotten to know each other and I just, I was in total shock about that because I truly felt like we were becoming friendly with each other."
"I couldn't believe that and then even Violet says, is she just stupid and doesn't realize what she's saying if that were the case? But how would I know if I were making someone uncomfortable? Like if you're smiling and continue to talk to me, how do I know if I'm making someone uncomfortable? I would never want to make anyone uncomfortable. It's one of those weird situations where sure it shouldn't be Gottmik's job to police me in what I say. But also how do I know if I'm upsetting someone if you don't say anything to me?"
Elliott added that after that podcast premiered, she reached out to Gottmik, who responded, "I thought we were good."
"There was no point rhyme or reason to what he was saying. It just was kind of like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know,' like it just, it didn't have any genuine concern or care of how it would affect me. I mean, when you're in the top four and you're a fan favorite on the show you don't really think about the other girls. Especially when you do when you have as many followers as they have and say things like that, they don't realize that there's an army of Drag Race fans that are gonna go and attack that person."
"I was so upset by that because to my face Gottmik was always so like, 'Hey gorge, good to see you.' And then I hear that and I was in shock, I couldn't believe it because at no point in time on the season did go Mik come to me and say, hey, like you upset me.
"I've lost childhood friends because of this."
Elliott then went on to talk about how the many fandom controversies she's been a part of have resulted in some strained relationships with close ones in her life.
"I feel like people don't look at intention or where somebody's thought process is coming from. They all kind of say, 'Oh, I understand her thought process' or 'I understand that she was just trying to fit in' but like, let's tear her down anyway. That doesn't make any sense to me if you understand where I'm coming from and you understand what I was trying to do. That should just be it instead of, 'Oh, we get it.' But you have to suffer anyway. And that's how it feels. I mean, they say, 'Oh, I don't really care. Oh, I wish her well.' Well, obviously they didn't, or else they wouldn't have, you know, tried to tear me down so hard. I've always tried to communicate with them. I always tried to be open with them and when things started getting really bad, people weren't responding anymore. I've lost childhood friends because of this because they think that I had secretly been this horrible person all these years."
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Watch the full, gag-worthy interview below.