Love opened up in an interview with YouTube documentarian Matt Cullen about how a “very famous celebrity" told her that there wasn’t room in the budget to pay her for a Pride performance.
Although Love wouldn’t give up names, she got candid about celebrities trying to get out of paying drag performers for their art form.
Before addressing the topic, Love applauded Miley Cyrus and the work she has done with the LGBTQ+ community.
In 2021 the “Flowers” singer hired Love to perform alongside her at a July Fourth concert in Las Vegas. And who could forget Cyrus’ iconic 2015 VMA’s performance where she brought out Drag Race faves like Shangela, Laganja Estranja and Alyssa Edwards onstage.
According to Love, others are less inclined to reward their performers for their hard work.
“I just worked with a very famous celebrity who during the Pride season did a whole Pride event and a concert but somehow didn’t have a budget for us,” she said.
“This summer especially, we’ve been fighting for our rights as drag performers and trans people to be able to continue living our lives and being able to work and I just thought it was a little odd to do all that,” she revealed. “You’re worth half a billion dollars, and you didn’t have ten dollars at least for us?”
Love also touched on the concept of performing “for exposure” and why the idea is a ridiculous one in today’s age.
“If you have the internet and Instagram, you’re already exposed,” she said. “So people that say ‘oh this is for exposure’ – b***h, I am exposed. That’s why you asked me to be a part of your gig.”
Transgender drag queen Love, first competed in season two of Drag Race. She then returned and took home the crown on Drag Race All Stars 6.
Fellow queen Choriza May went through a similar situation in Amsterdam when a festival couldn’t pay her for a performance “because there was no budget.”
Not this big festival in Europe announcing a MASSIVE drag act after the person responsible for their Drag stage contacted my management asking if I could go and perform FOR FREE because "there was no budget". Let's have some consistency.
— Pollopeluco May (@chorizamay) June 15, 2023
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