Asia O’Hara responds to animal cruelty claims following shock Drag Race finale
*Spoiler warning*
By Will Stroude
Tyhe winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 10 was crowned on Thursday night in spectacular fashion – but the finale wasn’t without controversy.
Finalist Asia O’Hara has been forced to apologise after being accused of animal cruelty when a stunt failed spectacularly during her lipsync battle with Kameron Michaels.
Texan pageant queen Asia, 35, was facing down Kameron during a performance of Janet Jackson’s ‘Nasty’ when she attempted to released a batch of live butterflies from within her costume.
Unfortunately, instead of flying away, the butterflies fell immediately to the floor, where they faced the gnarly prospect of death by stiletto as Asia and Kameron continued to perfom.
Lip-sync legends, @AsiaOharaLand and @KameronMichaels are FIERCE Queens who have slayed this competition. So proud of the both of them and love them so much! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/5IMPUM78YC
— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) June 29, 2018
Asia was promptly eliminated following the performance, and took to Instagram after the finale aired to issue a heartfelt apology.
“I just want to let everyone know how sad and heartbroken I am by the way my lip sync performance during the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race turned out,” she wrote.
“Despite months of research and rehearsing with a professional company, what I hoped would be an amazing and safe display of optimism, and a surprise for everyone including production and the network, it did not go as planned.
“I would like to publicly offer the entire world my deepest apology. It’s important that everyone knows that I would never purposely hurt any living being and have the utmost respect for all animals.
“If you are unhappy with me, I understand. I have been unhappy with myself since that night but I’m going to do my best to make it right.
“Over the next year, my friends and I will be donating over 100 volunteer hours to the ASPCA, an organisation that has been dedicated to the fair treatment of animals since 1866.
“I can’t apologise enough for what happened. I want my fans and the world to know that I’ll continue to be humble, own my mistakes, and lead with love and light.”
You can read our recap of the Drag Race season 10 finale here.