Michelle Visage reacts to “Drag Race” Super Bowl halftime show idea: 'Imagine the middle of the country'

The Emmy-winning judge praised the idea of "RuPaul's Drag Race" queens headlining the show at the NFL game — and imagined reactions from people in "their red f---ing hats."

RuPaul's Drag Race might be the Olympics of drag, but Emmy-winning judge Michelle Visage still thinks conservative America might have to jump through some extra hoops to get behind the show's global domination.

Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd Monday night at an Emmys event for Television Academy voters at the Culver City Julian Dixon Library in Los Angeles, Visage — who joined RuPaul at the Drag Race judging panel at the start of season 3 in 2011 — reacted with glee when panel moderator Marc Malkin suggested that Drag Race queens headline the NFL's Super Bowl halftime show.

The moment came after season 16 queen Morphine Love Dion likened the LGBTQIA+ community's reaction to her domination during this year's lip-sync LaLaPaRuza episode to that of "straight people" with "beers and beer bellies" watching a game of football.

Related: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 9 recap: See who's winning, queen track records, and who was blocked this week

"The show is growing to a level we all never expected it to grow," Morphine said, to which Malkin responded with the suggestion that "Drag Race should do the halftime show" at the Super Bowl.

"We're ready," show creator and producer Tom Campbell responded, while Visage added: "Oh my God, imagine! Imagine the middle of the country, with their red f---ing hats. Oh, what I would give!"

In 2021, Drag Race even mounted a challenge for its All Stars 6 queens that tasked them with impersonating famous Super Bowl halftime headliners of the past, including Scarlet Envy as Katy Perry, Jan as Lady Gaga, Ginger Minj as Fergie, and Trinity K. Bonet as Beyoncé, among others.

In recent months, the Emmys juggernaut series has engaged with the uptick in conservative pushback over the art form — including in 2023, when several show alums as well as Mama Ru spoke out against proposed anti-drag and anti-trans legislation in states around the country. The show also partnered with the ACLU to create the Drag Defense Fund, which aims to combat the rise of such laws in the United States.

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Season 16 of the show, which bagged its highest ratings in 13 years across April's finale on MTV, also featured several contestants discussing personal issues that resonated with the queer community at large, including dealing with coming out to conservative parents and Q's discussion about her HIV-positive status.

"I definitely had an idea I was going to do it, because I knew we had the '80's runway [theme that week] and I really wanted to do something impactful, an homage to the generation of queer people that we lost to the AIDS epidemic in the '80s and what we could be now as a queer community if we had gotten the care that we deserved and that visibility," Q said at Monday's FYC event, which also featured season 16 contestants Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige, Dawn, Plane Jane, Sapphira Cristál, and winner Nymphia Wind. "I wanted to be free of it, I wanted it to be off my shoulders," Q continued. "If you're queer and HIV-positive, you can relate it to a second coming out. It felt like a weight off my shoulders. There's nobody better to do it around than these girls here. As rotted as they all are, they're amazing and some of my best friends."

Related: Drag Race queens clash with teen accusing them of joining 'religious cult' on We're Here

The current season of Drag Race All Stars 9, which features returning fan-favorite queens, also ruffled conservative feathers last month via Gottmik's powerful runway look for the "A Tail and Two Titties" runway theme. The season 13 alum — who was the first trans man to compete on the show — interpreted the brief as an ode to her own top surgery, and strutted the runway with scalpels digging into crystal-encrusted, bloody scars on her chest while she carried two false breasts in a bag of gore at her side.

Conservative journalist Megyn Kelly later criticized the look, calling it "sick" and "obviously misogynistic" in a tweet that many labeled as transphobic. (Representatives for Kelly did provide Entertainment Weekly with comment when reached at the time.)

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 9 continues Fridays on Paramount+.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.