BenDeLaCreme has cancelled her Australian tour. | Photo: BenDeLaCreme / Facebook
RuPaul’s Drag Race star, BenDeLaCreme, has abruptly cancelled her upcoming Australian tour.
DeLa planned to tour her show, Inferno A Go-Go, Down Under in September with tour company, Kweer Touring and Events.
She announced her decision on social media saying she had to stand in solidarity with other drag queens. Many queens had not received payment from the recent Queer Expo they performed at together.
‘I loved touring Oz this last June and July with a mega talented cast of performers, but unfortunately many of those performers have still not been paid the agreed upon fees for their hard work,’ DeLa wrote.
‘At this point in time, queens have no unions to protect us, and we have to stick together as advocates for each other. It is important for all performers to stand up for the fair treatment and pay of everyone working in drag, burlesque, cabaret, and all of the many designers and artists that support us.’
DeLa had announced the Inferno A Go-Go tour at the recent Queer Expo.
‘I cannot in good faith continue to tour with a promoter who is not treating performers without my platform with the same consideration as those who have been on TV,’ DeLa wrote.
‘It is my hope that this situation will be rectified very soon.’
Kweer Events
Kweer Event’s founder, Dr Pete J Smith issued a public statement about not paying his performers. He claimed a third party ‘fraudulently accessed’ the company’s bank accounts.
‘Firstly, we want to take this time to formally apologise to the talent who money is still owed to… Payment arrangements for the most part is being put in place, so we can set right what is currently very wrong,’ Smith said in the statement.
In the statement Smith said he had received death threats and abuse.
Smith said DeLa’s statement surprised him because he had paid her in full for her performances.
‘BenDeLaCreme is not owed any money from Kweer Touring and Events,’ he told Fairfax Media.
DeLa, our hero
It is not the first time DeLa has stood up for her fellow drag queens.
In March she called on Drag Race fans to not ‘bully’ or ‘harass’ the show’s queens on social media.
‘No one is born kind. It takes work… How about you all just focus on being wildly appreciative that these people have chosen to share themselves and their artistry with you, to bare themselves and be vulnerable despite the knowledge that many of you will be extremely cruel in return?’ DeLa wrote on Twitter.
