RuPaul gets star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

RuPaul Charles has become the first drag queen to be honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

On Friday, the groundbreaking performer and television host attended a ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, as fans lined up to cheer him on.

Dressed in a tartan suit, the 57-year-old celebrity was presented with the star by iconic actress Jane Fonda, while proud husband Georges LeBar watched on (they married last year after 23 years together).

“I am overcome with so much emotion right now,” RuPaul told the crowd. “As a kid we’d come up here and they’d drop me off right here on Hollywood Boulevard so I’d look at all the stars and dream that one day I could be one of the stars on Hollywood Boulevard.”

He thanked his family for “so much support” and added emotionally that, “this is absolutely the most important moment in my professional career”.

Fonda praised RuPaul, commenting that, “He created an industry that has given hundreds and hundreds of jobs and dreams to so many”.

Born in 1960 as RuPaul Andre Charles in San Diego, California, RuPaul made his first appearance on public access television doing an androgynous dance routine in 1982 and then began his climb to global domination.

RuPaul has since become the world’s best known drag superstar and as the host of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race. In 2017, he was included in the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

RuPaul was recently in the news after he said that he didn’t think he would allow a transgender contestant who had transitioned to take part on his Drag Race series.

Following an outcry, he was forced to issue an apology, stating that, “the trans community are heroes of our shared LGBTQ movement”.

About to start its 10th season RuPaul’s Drag Race has won two Primetime Emmy Awards and has been credited with taking drag into the mainstream.