Rainbow Crew is an ongoing interview series that celebrates the best LGBTQ+ representation on screen. Each instalment showcases talent working on both sides of the camera, including queer creatives and allies to the community.
Next up, we're speaking to Drag Race alum Kerri Colby about her new show called Kerri Kares on WOW Presents Plus.
Kerri Colby is living proof that your final placing on Drag Race does not reflect the impact you have in this franchise — or the world beyond for that matter either.
Although Kerri came ninth in season fourteen, she still remains a fan favourite, and it's easy to see why. Kerri's honest confessionals quickly established her as a queen to watch, and then the way this openness also extended to conversations around gender identity went on to cement Colby's place in Drag Race herstory.
By the end of her eight-episode run, Kerri had also helped guide and inspire fellow cast-mates Bosco, Kornbread Jeté, and Jasmine Kennedie on their own transitioning journeys, establishing what Colby would later refer to as the "Trans-tastic Four." It's no wonder then that Kerri's first solo series on WOW Presents Plus revolves around advising and helping others in the same kind of way.
Digital Spy caught up with Kerri Colby to celebrate the launch of Kerri Kares and discuss why it's time "for us as queer people to pay attention to what is going on."
Where did the idea for your new show come from?
I don't think it's any surprise that I felt like I should have a little more time on Drag Race. And I think that our World of Wonder family agreed. So we started brainstorming on the back end. That was not the last of me on season 14. And we were like, well, what can we do to keep people engaged and do something fun?
The heartbeat to my whole little thing I've done here is my fans, my Kare Bears. I get asked a lot of questions and it can be anything from beauty to hair to styling to life advice, because obviously on Drag Race, I was very open. I was very transparent. And I was very just like real and raw.
So I was getting a lot of DMs and questions about everything you could think of. And I was like, "Why don't we build a show off of the questions that my fan base and people who want to know more about me are curious about?" Because that's kind of the heartbeat of how to make something that people want to see, when they ask you what they want.
I never got to see any of the questions. I like surprises, so when we got to set, all of the content that came from our show literally was birthed and brought to us by our amazing Kare Bear fan base.
In the first episode, you use a lot of funny, but also empowering, phrases like "C**tfidence". Is there one in particular you think is important for people to pick up on and take to heart?
One of my favourite phrases and terms that I kept hitting on throughout the series was "Therapy is my best friend and she should be yours too."
I wanted to be funny. I wanted to be silly. I wanted people to be like, "Oh my God, that's that Kerri that I knew." But since it was so based on the fans and what they were going through or they were experiencing, I wanted to make sure that while we kept it lighthearted, we also kept it with a real note of like, "If you need help, get help, because that's the only way you're really going to feel better."
I could help you to do a million and one things, but if you don't do the back work, you're not going to be able to see new results and ultimately, I like to see people, whether they're my fans or anyone, I like to see them take those steps to really bettering themselves. So I wanted to make sure there was a serious note throughout the whole thing while being silly and funny and crazy.
You're giving a lot of advice in the show and I wondered, did that help you reflect on yourself and your own personal journey as well?
There was so much we shared in Drag Race. There's a lot of different traumas, some that I did talk about, some that I didn't get a chance to talk about, that really affected how I looked at life. It's one thing where you know the problem. But if you don't do something or have something done to you to fix the problem, you're just going to be aware. You've got to go through the process to learn how to really speak on things.
A lot of my Drag Race journey really was like my internal outlook on myself. Watching the season back, I think I was very charming, very cute, but I always could see how I got in my own way. It wasn't painful. It just really made me realise that there is so much room to grow and I can't expect someone else to see that for me. I have to push myself to grow. So it really started my own Kerri Kares journey. Kerri cares about you, and Kerri cares about herself.
Would you ever want to continue your Drag Race journey on a future season of All Stars?
I think when I first came off the show, I was a little bit lost and confused as to what I was wanting to do. So I was like, "No, no, no!" And now, we've grown up, we've matured we've come into our own of it.
I always say that anything is possible. I am always down to have the right conversation. So for me, it's it's not so much of a "If I would ever." It's more of a "when". I think that's definitely possible. It's just that timing is everything. And you gotta have the right negotiations, if you know what I'm saying.
Your drag mother, Sasha Colby, is currently slaying the latest season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Do you think the rest of the cast stand a chance against her?
Somebody asked that on Twitter and my immediate answer was "No." [Laughs]
But I will say, I hadn't watched any of the episodes at that point. That was before the premiere. From that talent show alone, I was so impressed. There are so many girls that are so hungry. They're so ready. You have Marcia Marcia Marcia, Anetra, Jax... I could go on.
Even though they may not be alumni or in the Drag Hall of Fame in their own right for 20 plus years, they definitely have that hunger, and it shows on camera. These are some short episodes, but in that little bit of time, you get to see so much. It's power packed.
I still think it's going to be Sasha's Drag Race. You can't convince me otherwise, but it's definitely not just her up here and everyone else down there. It's kind of even, and you never know; someone might throw her for a loop.
Looking back, is there a moment of queer representation on screen that really resonated with you in particular?
There are so many. For me, it was very interesting because I kind of grew up in this weird bubble, and then all of a sudden, I was out in the world, and I had virtually no general synopsis of what had happened from me being born in the '90s. I didn't even know the MTV Awards had happened where Madonna and Britney and Christina all kissed each other. So there was a lot of catching up for me to do.
I can't really say that there was one specific show, but, specifically, when it came to my transitioning journey, shows like Orange is the New Black... Being able to see Laverne Cox? I think it needs to be talked about.
The difference from trans women being put on TV as a gag, a joke or prostitute number 3536. It went from that being the general casting to now we got to see a real liveable character share so many journeys that as trans people and trans people of colour, Black trans girls, we got to see ourselves in.
That rolled into Pose and, oh my god, I will never ever be the same after watching Veneno. I'm not even fluent in Spanish, so I had to pay attention to every emotion, every feeling and every heartstring. That came out pretty much when I was fresh in my transition because I started my journey in the pandemic. So there was not one day where I was in my little room, lights were out, TV was on, tissues next to me, and I was like, "Oh my god!" I was just going crazy because I felt so seen.
Even going towards the future of things — We have Drag Race where we really are able to push our our stories and our lives. It really does have a positive effect on younger people because they can see themselves. I always say, "If you can see her, you can be her, whether you have the support or not." It's so important to see yourself.
We also have Euphoria with Hunter Schafer, so there's just so many representations and options out there now. It really gives people the ability to see themselves. When you see yourself, it just makes you even more authentic as you grow.
Is there a piece of advice that you would like to give to young queer people, and young trans people in particular, who are struggling in this current climate?
It's so interesting to me that such a unique and relatively small group of people are really being so scrutinised and so focused on at this moment. I think that is very weird, very telling of where people's minds are at.
But I'm also thinking it's a great opportunity because we are now at the forefront. Trans people and queer people, people of colour, the world's eyes are all on us. That's both people who want to support us and people who don't want to support us.
The number one thing you can do is have faith. Take your time. This is not a one day to next day transformation or journey, and that goes for everything across the rainbow. It is not an immediate thing. You have to learn that this is the rest of your life, so take your time.
Find who you are, and really, really invest yourself in your local legislation, your local politics, because as queer people of colour, and just across the board, our entire livelihood and these next five to 10 years, truly, truly depend on our ability to stay cognisant, to stay aware and to stay conscious. It's really time for us as queer people to pay attention to what is going on.
You can't just expect that by telling our story that the older white men in office — because that's what most of these people are — are just going to pay attention to you and be like, "OK, we heard you exist. We're gonna make everything great for you". No, you've got to be about your journey.
You've got to be tapped in, tuned in, and focused. That is the only way that we will be able to maintain our liberty and freedom to be who we are. If we tune out now and be like, "Every day is a Pride party, we don't need to focus," we will end up seeing so much regression because the shockwaves we are making have a lot of people's opinions on us.
The most important opinion here is ours. But that means we have to be present to share that story.
Kerri Kares airs on WOW Presents Plus worldwide UK. RuPaul's Drag Race US airs on MTV in the US and WOW Presents Plus in the UK.
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