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Acacia Forgot appears during RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 Cast Visit to Rockefeller Center Ice Rink.
The unforgettable queen is ready for her next chapter!
Some queens burst into the Werk Room and put it all out there — some take a little longer to reveal their layers and hidden depths. Acacia Forgot proved to be the latter kind.
Acacia was initially on the quieter side, but by the time she sashayed out the door, she’d shared with fans her love of music, her comedy chops, her ability to read a sister for filth, and the health struggles that shaped her young life.
Despite her name, Acacia ultimately proved to be very memorable. PRIDE caught up with the queen to talk about her time on the show, how she created Acacia, her grandfather’s reaction to that cheeky booty-flashing moment, and why Suzie Toot has earned her forgiveness, even if she hasn’t forgotten.
How are you feeling about your time on Drag Race?
I don’t want to be like, I regret the way I did anything, but it can be hard to see how much I was in my head, and I wish I could have gotten myself out of my head a bit. I feel like I was getting myself out towards the end, but I wish I could have gotten out a bit sooner. But that’s also just who I am. I’m still very proud of what I was able to do.
I want to talk about your aesthetic. I feel like you do not get enough credit. Lots of people have served the ‘80s, but nobody has served my favorite part of it, which is Dolly in her Best Little Whorehouse in Texas era. I’m curious. Where does your aesthetic come from?
I was homeschooled growing up, my whole life, and my family, they love what they love, and they don’t like anything new. So everything we watched was old TV shows, old movies, nothing like hardly anything post-’90s was ever played. So, I grew up on the hit movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s. We grew up listening to Pat Benatar, Heart, Aerosmith, and Motley Crue. So, all those kinds of things have always been what inspire me the most. There’s something about the ‘80s it’s just so sexy and so campy and... everything about it is just so mesmerizing to me.
How are you feeling about your time on Drag Race?
I don’t want to be like, I regret the way I did anything, but it can be hard to see how much I was in my head, and I wish I could have gotten myself out of my head a bit. I feel like I was getting myself out towards the end, but I wish I could have gotten out a bit sooner. But that’s also just who I am. I’m still very proud of what I was able to do.
I want to talk about your aesthetic. I feel like you do not get enough credit. Lots of people have served the ‘80s, but nobody has served my favorite part of it, which is Dolly in her Best Little Whorehouse in Texas era. I’m curious. Where does your aesthetic come from?
I was homeschooled growing up, my whole life, and my family, they love what they love, and they don’t like anything new. So everything we watched was old TV shows, old movies, nothing like hardly anything post-’90s was ever played. So, I grew up on the hit movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s. We grew up listening to Pat Benatar, Heart, Aerosmith, and Motley Crue. So, all those kinds of things have always been what inspire me the most. There’s something about the ‘80s it’s just so sexy and so campy and... everything about it is just so mesmerizing to me.
Yes! And your style is in this perfect pocket of ‘80s does ‘40s that I think is so cool and so chic.
When you look at the ‘80s, a huge reference throughout the ‘80s is the ‘50s and the greaser style. So I feel like if you’re referencing the ‘80s, you’re referencing the ‘60s and ‘40s.
I’m also obsessed with your beat. I love blush, so I have to know what blush you are using because the pigment is so gorgeous.
Thank you! We need to plug it. It is my boyfriend’s cosmetic company, Austie Cosmetics. We actually collaborated on a blush palette before Drag Race for his brand called Rodeo Rouge, and it is a six-pan blush palette. I literally layer it, like, three different times throughout my makeup process. It is just the best blush. That palette is just the only thing I use.
Let’s talk a little bit about this episode. It was so nice to see you excited and in your element, getting to do something you really love to do. Was this the Rusical challenge the one that you are most looking forward to?
I was excited about anything music-related. Looking back, anything that I did that was musical — the talent show, the ‘Bitch, I’m a Drag Queen’ challenge, or the Rusical — I saw myself getting so in my head because music is something so important to me. So, I was so excited, but I also took it so seriously that I think that that could have been something that held me back a bit.
Do you feel like you put a lot of pressure on yourself in that moment? And did you feel like the eyes of your season 17 sisters were on you even more strongly this week?
I do, yeah. One, it’s so important to me that I want to do well, because I love it so much. Then on the other side, it’s that thing of like, anytime you say, ‘This is what I do,’ when it comes time for you to prove it, it’s almost always a miss.
Yeah, I get that. It’s so easy to get in your head instead of just trusting your instincts. It was great to see you really standing up for yourself this week. When you were selecting roles, you stuck to your guns, even when it got heated and a little ‘I’m not joking, bitch’ vibes. How were you feeling at that moment with Suzie Toot and where do the two of you stand now? Did you ever talk about it?
At that point, she was just getting so arrogant, and really thought she was such hot shit, and I could not deal with that, especially after the Snatch Game. She was just so upset she wasn’t at the top and it’s like, you didn’t do well, why are you so arrogant? I felt that because she was getting so arrogant, she was kind of getting what she wanted. I’m not gonna let her walk all over me or try to dictate what I should and shouldn’t do. So, when we were divvying up the roles, we were talking about it and why we deserved the role. So I just explained why I deserved the role. Then when it’s her turn to describe or to say why, to fight for it, all she did was put me down. I was like, ‘Oh, you’re not going to use this time to put me down.’
When I get pissed about something, I get really fired up, and I get just very feisty. If there’s one thing I love to do it’s hold a grudge. After that, I was just so bitter, and also let that kind of hold me back. But she did come out to apologize. She came up and apologized later — and then she apologized again in Untucked. But even then, it’s still hard for me to fully let go. She even texted me the other day and apologized again. So I do think she’s sorry. We’re good, we’re definitely friends and everything, but I will never forget.
Do you feel like that’s becoming a little bit of a pattern? It reminded me a bit of what happened with Onya Nurve, where Suzie criticized her Snatch Game and then apologized.
Yeah. I think she talks a lot of talk. At times, she can be a lot of hat, no cattle. She says what she says, and then she’s like, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t want to hurt any feelings. I don’t want to ruffle any feathers’ and she backs down. Maybe she should time travel ahead, realize that, and then just not say it.
This actually brings me to another point. I heard a rumor that you are the shadiest in the group chat. Can you confirm or deny it?
I am the shadiest, but it all comes out of honesty. I feel like all I ever do is just ask a question and try to gain understanding, and it just comes off as shady. It’s so funny that Arrietty and I are best friends because, well, we were just talking about this the other day. She’s the one who everyone thinks is the bitch, but she’s actually really nice, and I’m the one everyone thinks is really nice but is actually the bitch.
I love that we get to see so many sides to you: your shady side, your talented side, and your backside. Your butt broke the internet, how was that experience for you?
It was the crack heard around the world. Yeah, I mean, I’ve always been kind of the ugly duckling, I feel like. I’ve never really felt attractive and seen so much love for my appearance. As shallow as it is, ‘I’m as shallow as a puddle,’ I like to say, and I have really loved it. I really didn’t think that I would have old college teachers and all these different people messaging me, being like, ‘We’re watching the episodes, you’re doing great! I didn’t even think about that. My grandpa watched it. My brothers showed my grandpa all the episodes, and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, my grandpa’s gonna see my butt, okay?’ He thought it was funny.
I love it! So, what’s next for Acacia?
I am focusing on my music. I have some music already recorded. I also have the rest of an EP coming out soon called The Farm, and then soon to be, starting to work on my debut full-length album.
Exciting! Will we see any collabs in the future?
I have so many dream collabs, but I would love to collaborate with Sierra Farrell. She is one of the biggest inspirations for me in music. I also would love to collab with, of course, Dolly Parton, Orville Peck, or Trixie Mattel.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
