- [Eugene] When you think
of drag, or drag queen or Drag Race, what do you think of? - Mmhmm. Big boobs? - Yeah, big boobs. - Uh huh.
- Singing. Do they sing? - [Eugene] Sometimes.
- Yeah. - So, my father, I invited
him to go to a drag show in Austin when I was visiting. - How was that? - Um. - You're gonna purposely go to
- Right. a gay bar in Austin
- Right. with your son
- Right. to see drag queens.
- Right. - Great. (peppy rock music) - Hi, I'm Eugene. - Hi, my name is Sang. I also go by Kim Chi. I was on season eight
of RuPaul's Drag Race. I was in the top three. - I was gonna say that you were robbed, but I do love Bob. - I was Bobbed. (hearty laughter) - I wanted to bring you here to talk about what it's like to be a person of color in the LGBT community. - Perfect. A lot of the fans that come out to see me at my shows are majority Asian. And during meet-and-greets,
they'll tell me stories about, you know,
that they struggled with their family, and they're like, "I relate to you so much,"
which is really cool. The entire country of
Korea is very religious and conservative, right? - I was Presbyterian growing up. - Were you? Me too. (laughs) - Yeah, Korean Presbyterians! What's up? - Growing up, I grew up in
a small town in Michigan. After my parents
separated, my mom raised us just on her own by working
as a server in a restaurant. And, there were some Asian people there, but it was mostly all white. I never really had an
Asian figure to look up to. The only people that I knew in the media were Sandra Oh and Margaret Cho. And I felt like they
were two polar opposites. - Would you be the Margaret
or the Sandra here? - I'm definitely the Margaret here, because my face is bigger. (uproarious laughter) - [Eugene] Alright, Dad. - [Jae] Hi! - [Eugene] Hi. We're here in
Austin, Texas, at your home. - Welcome home, Eugene. - [Eugene] Thanks. My hometown. - [Eugene] There may be
a little bit of that. We're gonna go to one of
the Austin gay bars... - Wow - [Eugene] Tonight to watch the famous drag queen revue there at Oilcan Harry's. - [Eugene] Yes. (laughs) - [Eugene] And you've never
been in a gay bar, right? - Oh, I went one time. - [Eugene] Why? - Washington, D.C. We were walking through the town street. We just went into some nightclub. (club music plays) I said... - [Eugene] Oh! (laughs) Was good looking? - Yeah.
- Still good looking. - Thank you. - [Eugene] Yeah, but that
might happen tonight then. - Oh! - [Eugene] Well, there are
scenes for everything, Dad. He had actually never been
to a bar since the 70s. - [Kim Chi] Oh my God. - [Eugene] He just hadn't been out. Now it's gonna be for you, too, 'cause you're gonna go out. - [Eugene] Yeah, from all
the people who are gonna hit on you,
- Right. - [Eugene] Because you're so handsome. (hearty laughter) - My dad asked what I
was doing that night, and then he just kind of looked
at me for a longer second and I said, "Do you want to come with me?" And he said... - "Okay, I think maybe." So then he calls his girlfriend, who's my stepmom, Brenda. I say stepmom, because it's dumb to say, "Dad's girlfriend" for over 10 years. - Hot mama. - [Eugene] My hot mama? (laughs) She ain't Korean. - Oh, I was gonna say,
"Is her last name Song?" - No, no, not Brenda Song. Of course, my dad's with Brenda Song. (loud laughter) He's living that sweet life. But they decided to
throw caution to the wind and come out with me. Brenda, you've been to a
drag show before, right? - 90? - No. - 70? (Jae laughs) - He thought that when he was going there, that he was gonna be tipping people. His mind went to strip show. - [Eugene] Oh God, Dad! - [Eugene] (laughs) So embarrassing! (group laughter) No, Dad, you're just
going to hand it to them. - On the bra? - [Eugene] No, no, not the boobs, either. Just the hand, Dad. (laughs) - Ohhh. - Yeah, because I said... - Make it rain! - Yeah, because I told
him to get dollar bills. - Yeah. - Because, always tip your queens. - Yep. - [Eugene] This is going to
be way more tame than his job. - [Eugene] Sure, Dad. Okay, well, the bar's right
there, right behind you. I think that people don't
talk about it as much. As LGBT people, we sometimes forget the people of color in that community. Drag Race is a really interesting example of where it comes out to the forefront. - Yeah. There's a lot of racial
discussion on Drag Race. - My only goal I wanted to show was just to be authentic self and then never play into
the Asian stereotypes, because that's not what I do. - Yeah. That's why we're sisters. - (laughs) Sisters from another fister. - Sisters with... (laughs) Did you say, "From another fister?" - Yep.
- Ohhh. Did you catch that? Everyone catch that? It's fisting, like when you... - [Cameraman] We know. (loud laughter) (club music plays) - Honestly, I wish... - [Eugene] It's like, he's
never been inside one, yeah. - 1971. - [Eugene] Oh God,
yeah, this is his story. - [Jae] Right. (Eugene laughs) - [Jae] Oh! - [Eugene] Yeah, she's
going to be performing. Brenda, say hi. - [Brenda] Hi! - For you, I'm curious, what initially brought you to drag? - I'm an accidental drag queen. - I just imagine you just
like slipped one day. - Yeah, it was just like,
"Whoops, there's a dress!" - There I am! - [Kim Chi] So my best friend
at the time, he was like, And I was like, "Alright,
I guess I could try it." And then both of us
ended up getting booked for a show that night. - Just wearing drag? Someone was like, "Ha,
she's beautiful darling, "she'll make it big!" - No, they were like,
"You ladies look amazing." "Do you want to do a show here?" And we're like, "Okay!" (loud laughter) And then the promoter
for that circuit party asked me to be a host.
(applause track plays) And then I became their main host. And then eventually I
became their art director. - Wow. - And then soon after that, I was working almost every night in drag. I quit my serving job, I
quit my graphic design job. - So you were a graphic
designer before that? - Yeah. So that's where the eye comes from, your artistic eye. (crowd cheers) - One, two... (crowd laughs) - [Eugene] So you've
traveled a lot to do drag. - [Kim Chi] One of my favorite places that I've ever been to is Taiwan. Taiwan, they call it the hidden gay mecca, 'cause a lot of people
don't know that they're the first Asian country
to legalize gay marriage. - Damn, Taiwan. - And obviously, I'm performing in Korea. It's always my favorite. The gays in Asia aren't as
out and about, you know. One thing I like about
America is how lesbians and gays, they all go
to the gay bars, right? But Korea, for example, women aren't allowed to enter a gay club, and men aren't allowed
to enter a lesbian club. - Really? - Because they've had issues in the past, where women will come into a gay club and there will be a religious activist. So then they'll take videos and pictures of people that are in the
club and out then online. - Oh, wow. (crowd cheers) - Thank you, thank you, appreciate you. (crowd screams) Thank you, I appreciate that. - When I talk about
being a person of color in the queer community, with some stricter family elements. A lot of people who can equate
have religious backgrounds. - [Kim Chi] Yep. - You know, this sort of "hush, hush." "Don't talk about it." I've had a lot of friends
who've had to either leave their families or were disowned, because of things like religion. So it's a very sensitive
topic for a lot of people. I know on Drag Race you brought
up talking about your mom, and she didn't know that
you were a drag queen. - So, my family grew up very poor. Working as a server in a tiny
Korean restaurant in Michigan, you don't really make a lot of money. So then after I made it
onto RuPaul's Drag Race, I sent her a good sum amount of money. And then she was suspicious. So she googled my email that
I sent the money through. - [Eugene] Oh, so she saw
this beautiful woman pop up. - Yeah. (laughs) I'm sure she probably freaked out, because she'd never seen anything like that in her life, you know. So then she calls me and
the first thing she asks is, "So, how much money do
you make doing this?" - Right. - And I told her, and she was like, "You know what, I fully support you." "Keep living your dream." (laughs) "Do whatever you want to do." - They see happiness maybe
being equated to also how comfortable you are. - Comfortable and financial stability. - If they see that I'm
doing well for myself, and that I have a job
that I'm passionate about, then they kind of think that's
a language they can say, "Oh, I support that." Right?
- Yep. It's kind of a weird way for them to say, "I think I understand what you're doing." "As long as you're eating
and you're not too skinny." - But it's crazy, the shift in change, because when I first came out to my mom several years ago, the
first thing she said was, "You're my son, I still
love you no matter what." Then she followed up by saying, "Just whatever you do, don't
tell your brother or your dad." - My mom said something similar. - Did she really?
- Very similar, yeah. Then she fucking told my dad. - Did she really?
- Yeah. (crowd cheers) - Hey, Austin. (crowd cheers) We're already in the
greatest city in the world. We all know this, but I'm so Texan, I was born in mother fucking Waco. (crowd cheers approval) I think what was great
about bringing my dad to a drag show, was that it did exemplify the evolution of our relationship, and that even older people,
from conservative backgrounds from ethnic backgrounds, can grow. (thumping club music plays) One of the best things you
can do to introduce your family to the LGBT
community is seeing drag. It's just amazing. You can appreciate it, because
it's art on so many levels, it's performance, it's comedy, it's dance. He had a great time. So what did you think of the drag show? - That was fun, lifetime experience. - What did you like most about it? - Lip sync. - Those people watching out there, who have conservative families or are from a background of color
or religious background, engage your families as much as you can. And if you feel like there's an opening, go for it. Did you like the bar? - Yeah, the bar was good. - Do you think you'll go again sometime? - Not me. - No?
- No. - What about in L.A.? Can I take you in L.A.? - I'll think about it.
- Okay. I was surprised when he
said he wanted to go, but in the end it was
a very fun experience for both of us. Well it means a lot to
me that you'd come out to my type of bars with my type of shows. - He's got in the car and said, "That was on my bucket list." And then he goes, "Well
not really, but I just "put it on the bucket
list and now it's done." - I go, so. - People come around eventually. Not everyone's gonna be your
friend's mom named Shannon, who comes like to every gay bar - and is like, "Where
are we getting drunk?" "Hey kids!" They'll be their own version of that... - Exactly. - To their own comfort,
so I think that everyone should just know that everyone has their own path and story. - But to all the Shannons out there, thank you for being you. - Yeah. And for everyone that's not, become successful then tell your parents. (loud laughter) (edgy rock music plays) - I gotta ask you how quickly you decided to be Kim Chi. - The very first time I
went out I didn't care what my drag name was, so my drag name was Jizzney Princess. (everyone laughs) - Because I... (giggles)
Kim's mom officially knows she does drag! Now EVERYONE STOP ASKING HER ABOUT IT FOREVER.
Eugene’s dad is so sweet and wholesome! This completely made my day
This video is so wholesome. So Kim's mom knows he's doing drag.. yay!
Also, can we talk about Jizzney Princess? lol
Had no idea Kim was from Michigan! Although Lansing is definitely not a small town, lol. Still cool when we have RPDR queens with connections to here though, we have a lot of great local talent.
Eugene needs to be a guest judge. I staaaaaaan. And his dad's a sweetheart, the shaving video they did was very moving.
I loved this video bc its no the typical video of a drag queen doing someone’s makeup.
Ugh the one guy on the left is such a messy gay. Legit had to pick him up off Santa Monica Blvd street side and drag him into a nearby restaurant at 3am ...
I love the Try Guys so much and this has just pushed me right over the line!
As someone who grew up with Korean parents, I could never have imagined my parents being that cool going to a gay bar, nevermind a drag show. Loved every second of this video