Jimbo has responded to fans who have compared Plane Jane to her. (Getty)
RuPaul’s Drag Race champion Jimbo has responded to fans who have suggested other queens – particularly season 16’s Plane Jane – are “impersonating” her.
The Canadian, who won All Stars 8, after first appearing in her home version of the franchise, has had a huge impact on the Drag Race fandom, thanks to her hilarious, occasionally chaotic, drag style.
She slayed both of her Snatch Game performances, first as Joan Rivers on Canada’s Drag Race, then as Shirley Temple on All Stars 8, savagely clapped back other competitors, including Rita Baga and Pangina Heals, and regularly made the judges howl with laughter.
Most notably, the permanently big-breasted queen impressed RuPaul and the show’s fandom with her talent show performances.
In Drag Race UK vs The World, she seemingly pooped baloney while dressed as an unhinged Casper the Ghost. Then, on All Stars, her talent was making a banana split, using ice cream stored in her wig, whipped cream from her t*ts, and a banana from… well, we’re not sure.
But the show-stopping performances have created such a legacy in the Drag Race world that the queens who followed have regularly been compared to her when they try to be a little silly – most recently, current contestant Jane, after she sang an original song called “Burger Finger” during the talent show episode.
During her performance, Jane squirted ketchup and mustard on her breastplate – and won the challenge.
As a result, some fans dubbed her a “Jimbo impersonator”, while even Drag Race champ Bob The Drag Queen chimed in, suggesting Jane “was trying harder to be stupid than she actually is”.
During a conversation with fellow queen Monet X Change, Bob added: “It feels like at one point in time someone said: ‘You’re just so stupid and we love that you’re such a dummy’, and now a lot of girls… it feels like they’re forcing themselves to be stupid.”
It’s worth noting, however, that filming of season 16 had almost wrapped by the time Jimbo’s All Stars 8 talent show aired on TV.
Now, Jimbo has had her say on the comparisons between her and other drag stars.
The queen, who recently started her global Jimbo’s Drag Circus tour, exclusively told PinkNews: “I love influencing. If someone sees something in my drag they like and make it part of their drag, and they’re being weird and having a good time, that’s drag, that’s expression, that’s people getting out there.
“I don’t feel… I have to be some sort of weird gatekeeper.”
While Jimbo didn’t mention Jane by name, she was keen to make it clear that drag is all about having fun, experimenting and borrowing things from popular culture and other queens.
“Drag is all about sharing. Drag is all about borrowing a little bit of this, trying a little bit of that. Drag is all about trying new things on,” she said. “I love that my drag has inspired people and I love that my drag is inspiring other queens. That’s awesome.”
Tickets for Jimbo’s Drag Circus are available now.
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 airs on MTV on Fridays in the US and the following morning on WOW Present Plus in the UK.