6 Surprising Things Tyra Sanchez Recently Said About 'Drag Race' S2

King Tyra has spoken!

Formerly known as Tyra Sanchez, James Ross a.k.a. King Tyra won season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race back in 2010.

Since then, the relationship between Tyra and Drag Race has unfortunately soured. Not only has Tyra experienced issues with the production company behind the series, World of Wonder (WOW), but there’s been a lot of drama involving fans and other Drag Race contestants as well.

Over the years, Tyra has had the chance to tell his side of the story in separate opportunities. Alas, a brand-new Exposed interview with Joseph Shepherd has now given Tyra a platform to explain his full side to the many stories that came out about him over time.

Scroll through to read standout quotes from King Tyra’s new interview on Exposed with Joseph Shepherd – and make sure to watch the full interview on YouTube.

He’s now fine with people calling him Tyra Sanchez.

“Essentially, I’ll always be Tyra Sanchez. I don’t think I can ever get away from that.” he explained during the interview. “But when I came out of retirement, I just wanted it to be something new. I didn’t want to be referred to as a queen, either in or out of drag. I still don’t like to be referred to as a queen. So that’s why I gave it the name King Tyra, just for that little bit of masculinity there.”

Tyra added, “People can still call me Tyra Sanchez. I’ll never get away from that. I was shown on TV to millions of viewers as Tyra Sanchez, so they’ll always know me as Tyra Sanchez.”

Tyra’s issues with ‘Drag Race’ started with Michelle Visage.

Shepherd asked Tyra when his relationship with Drag Race started to change. According to Tyra, Michelle Visage’s comments about Tyra’s crowning in season two were the first issues that came to the surface. “On [Visage’s] press tour, at every stop, she made sure to say that she didn’t think that I deserved to win,” Tyra recalled. “And that’s when the ‘Raven was robbed,’ [sentiment] was created.”

Tyra then brought up old YouTube interviews of Visage saying on record that, had she been a judge in the second season of Drag Race, the crowning would’ve had a different outcome. The Exposed show pulled a quote from a TooFab interview with Visage that read, “I wasn’t a judge in season one and two, [but] if I were there, I would have fought really hard for Raven to have been the winner. Still love Tyra, but I would have fought really hard for Raven to be the winner.”

He thinks RuPaul wanted Tyra to win ‘Drag Race,’ but not producers.

“I believe that RuPaul truly wanted me to win the show,” Tyra noted. “But I don’t World of Wonder wanted me to win, I don’t think Absolute Vodka wanted me to win, I don’t think NYX Cosmetics wanted me to win. And I felt that from everyone.”

Tyra also pointed out that World of Wonder never worked with him on any subsequent projects, such as Drag U, All Stars, or even digital series from WOW Presents.

World of Wonder wrote a letter asking Tyra not to attend DragCon 2018.

Tyra claims that World of Wonder producers wrote him a letter that read, “As it currently stands, we cannot allow you to come to DragCon (in any form). We need to see you make a sincere public apology. This apology has to make it clear that you do not condone violence against another person (including other queens) and that you will in no way encourage others to act violently (or otherwise inappropriately).”

After following up with them, Tyra received another statement from them that read, “We received your video, but unfortunately the apology is not clear.”

Tyra notes in the interview that he was never “banned” from attending DragCon 2018, which fans have long held as the truth of the matter. Instead, he was asked to apologize to queens who had felt offended by his words, and the apology was seemingly not accepted.

He hasn’t had any contact with World of Wonder since the DragCon scandal.

Shepherd asked Tyra, “Has there been any contact with WOW after that, or has that just been ceased?”

“No contact with WOW whatsoever. Done,” Tyra replied. “They gave me my money back from DragCon, they gave me my paycheck, and that was it.”

Tyra will never come back on ‘Drag Race’ – with ONE exception.

When asked if Tyra would ever consider coming back to Drag Race on an All Stars season, he started his response by posing other questions. “If you met Tina Turner, would you ever ask her, ‘Will you please get back with Ike?’” Tyra quipped. “If you met a 15-year-old girl, would you ever ask her, ‘Would you please go with R. Kelly?’ Why do you guys keep asking me to go back to my abuser?”

Tyra added, “No, I will never go back on Drag Race, ever again. I don’t think they can afford me, and I don’t think they can afford it. But I’ll make one deal, though: I’ll go on Drag Race if I can compete against RuPaul herself. Other than that, no.”