Few artists ever penetrate the subconscious level of American culture the way RuPaul Andre Charles did with the 1993 album Supermodel of the World.  It was groundbreaking not only because in the midst of the Grunge phenomenon did Charles have a dance hit on MTV, but because he did it as RuPaul, formerly known as Starbooty, a supermodel drag queen with a message: love everyone.  A duet with Elton John, an endorsement deal with MAC cosmetics, an eponymous talk show on VH-1 and roles in film propelled RuPaul into the new millennium.  
In July, RuPaul's movie Starrbooty  began playing at film festivals and it is set to be released on DVD October 31st.  Wikinews reporter David Shankbone recently spoke with RuPaul by telephone in Los Angeles, where she is to appear on stage for DIVAS Simply Singing!, a benefit for HIV-AIDS.  
DS:  How are you doing?
DS:  How do you like Los Angeles?
DS:  Me?  I’m from all over.  I have lived in 17 cities, six states and three countries.
DS:  Georgia, in a small town at the bottom of Fulton County called Palmetto.
DS:  Do you miss Atlanta?
DS:  What did that signify to you?
DS:  In 2004 when you released your third album, Red Hot, it received a good deal of play in the clubs and on dance radio, but very little press coverage.  On your blog you discussed how you felt betrayed by the entertainment industry and, in particular, the gay press.  What happened?
DS:  Do you mean as court jesters?
DS:  Everything you are?
DS:  It seems like years ago, and my recollection might be fuzzy, but it seems like I read a mainstream media piece that talked about how you wanted to break out of the RuPaul 'character' and be seen as more than just RuPaul.
DS:  That you wanted to be seen as more than just RuPaul the drag queen, but also for the man and versatile artist that you are.
DS:  What keeps people from knowing the difference between what is real and important, and what is not?
DS:  Recently I interviewed Natasha Khan of the band Bat for Lashes, and she is considered by many to be one of the real up-and-coming artists in music today.  Her band was up for the Mercury Prize in England.  When I asked her where she drew inspiration from, she mentioned what really got her recently was the 1960’s and 70's psychedelic drag queen performance art, such as seen in Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, The Cockettes and Paris Is Burning.  What do you think when you hear an artist in her twenties looking to that era of drag performance art for inspiration?
DS:  You think her answer was contrived?
DS:  Has the Iraq War affected you at all?
DS:  Do you think there is a lot of apathy in the culture?
DS:  Do you ever work the current political culture into your art?
DS:  What do you think of young performance artists working in drag today?
DS:  Michael Musto told me something that was opposite of what you said.  He said he felt that the younger gays, the ones who are up-and-coming, are over the body fascism and more willing to embrace their feminine sides.
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RuPaul speaks about society and the state of drag as performance art