Tyra Sanchez

Tyra Sanchez
Born James William Ross IV
(1988-04-22) April 22, 1988
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Residence Orlando, Florida U.S.
Other names James Ross
Tyra 007[1]
Known for RuPaul's Drag Race (season 2) winner
Predecessor BeBe Zahara Benet
Successor Raja Gemini
Children 1

James Ross IV, better known by his stage name Tyra Sanchez or Tyra 007,[lower-alpha 1] is an American drag queen and reality television personality. A frequent drag impersonator of pop star Beyoncé, Ross is best known as the winner of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race where he won $25,000.[4]

Career

A native of Gainesville, Florida, Ross moved to Orlando, where he has resided for most of his life. His drag mother was Angelica Sanchez Jones, a popular performer in the Orlando area[5]. During his time on RuPaul's Drag Race, Ross spoke candidly about his periods of homelessness and personal challenges prior to auditioning for and being selected to appear on the show. Ross' old-school drag style and glamor made him a favorite of the judges. Currently residing in Orlando, Ross performs throughout the United States and Canada.

At the time he won the title, Ross was one of the youngest contestants to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race. After winning Drag Race, Ross served as a drag professor and mentor of beauty- and fashion-challenged women on the second season of RuPaul's Drag U.[6] In April 2011, Sanchez released his first dance single, "Look at Me".[7] He released a second single, "Vogue" on October 13, 2016.[8] He then released a spoken word EP, "Dear Drag Race Fans Book I" on July 11, 2017, following the controversy surrounding him and Morgan McMichaels.[9]

Morgan McMichaels controversy

In 2017, Sanchez posted a mock obituary for Morgan McMichaels and used the post to direct people to Sanchez's personal SoundCloud page. McMichaels quickly denounced the rumor. McMichaels later said the post was meant as retribution for Sanchez losing a booking at Mickey's nightclub in West Hollywood. After Sanchez made demeaning comments about drag queen Raven, McMichaels said she wouldn't perform with Sanchez, and Sanchez lost the booking. Sanchez later apologized for the post about McMichaels' death, but refused to take it down.[10][11]

Drag Con 2018 controversy

Tyra was announced as being banned from attending the 2018 "RuPaul's DragCon" event after making terrorist threats.[12] His official website had a timer with the acronym "B.O.O.M." on it[13], however no act of violence was made when the timer ended.

Personal life

On August 10, 2015 Ross sent a tweet to a fan of the show who called him annoying followed by gun emojis, telling the fan, "kill yourself," which was met with backlash and outrage across Twitter and Facebook. He later stated that he would not apologize for his opinion, and went on to call victims of suicide "selfish cowards."[14] A petition was made calling for RuPaul to revoke Ross' crown and title, or at least speak out against it.[15] RuPaul broke silence in his podcast,[16] defending Ross' attitude, and stated: "Twitter is not the place for that. People don't get nuance on Twitter, you can't do irony on Twitter, people won't get it." During the podcast she added: "On Twitter, you don't hear inflection, you don't hear snark, you don't hear sarcasm."

Ross has a son, who was born in 2005.[17]

Notes

  1. ↑ In ball culture, 007 denotes a "free agent", that is, someone not associated with a house.[2] Ross changed the name of his drag persona in 2018 so that his drag house would not be associated with recent online behavior.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Duffy, Nick (21 June 2018). "Drag Race star Tyra Sanchez hits back at 'very racist' critics over alleged threats to DragCon". PinkNews. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Bein, Kat (24 July 2014). "Vogue: A Seven-Part Guide to Ballroom Culture". Miami New Times. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Villarreal, Daniel (21 June 2018). "'Drag Race' Winner Tyra Sanchez Claims His Recent Online Behavior Is a Reaction to Racism". Hornet Stories. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 2". Logo. Archived from the original on 2011-03-23.
  5. ↑ "An Homage to Five Generations of Black Entertainers in Orlando - Watermark Online". Watermark Online. 2018-03-01. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  6. ↑ Guest Judges Announced for RuPaul's Drag U from New York Press 9 March 2011
  7. ↑ Look At Me, 2011-04-21, archived from the original on 2018-05-25
  8. ↑ Vogue by Tyra Sanchez, 2016-10-13, archived from the original on 2018-05-25
  9. ↑ Dear Drag Race Fans Book I by Tyra Sanchez, 2017-07-11, archived from the original on 2018-05-25
  10. ↑ "Memorial FB 2017: Sanchez Announces McMichaels Death". Instinct. 2018-05-26. Archived from the original on 2018-06-14. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
  11. ↑ "'Drag Race' Winner Tyra Sanchez Falsely Announced Another Queen's Death". Hornet Stories. 2017-05-30. Archived from the original on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
  12. ↑ "Terrified fans report Drag Race winner to the FBI over DragCon 'threats'". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  13. ↑ "Tyra Sanchez continues with ambiguous threats against DragCon". San Diego Gay and Lesbian News. 2018-05-10. Archived from the original on 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-05-24.
  14. ↑ '"Drag Race winner under fire for comments on suicide"' Archived 2015-08-21 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ 'Activists create petition against Sanchez'
  16. ↑ "RuPaul breaks silence on Drag Race winner Tyra telling fan 'Go kill yourself' - Gay Star News". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 2015-10-29.
  17. ↑ Nunn, Jerry (19 December 2012). "'Drag Race' winner Tyra Sanchez on being a father". Windy City Times. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
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