Asia O’Hara Was 'Threatened to Be Burned Alive' by Racist 'Drag Race' Fans

After receiving numerous racially charged death threats,RuPaul's Drag Race finalist Asia O'Hara returned to social media yesterday with a heartbreaking story. 

"Some of you may have noticed a shift in my existence, and I feel I owe everyone a heartfelt explanation," began O'Hara.

"When I was 11-years-old, a group of older neighborhood kids attempted to set me on fire after noticing my flamboyance and vibrance. If it weren’t for a passerby that intervened, I might not be writing this today."

O'Hara was terrorized by her attackers who vowed to one day complete the task. She never told anyone what happened to her all those years ago and tried to leave the awful experience behind her.

O'Hara was forced to relive that trauma a few days ago when again someone threatened to burn her alive "because of the color of [her] skin."

"The strong and resilient person I had become was instantly reduced back to that 11-year-old little boy, terrified of allowing my loved ones to fear for my safety," wrote O'Hara.

"Social media is a powerful thing. Some have said that it changes everyone, but the truth is, it simply reveals who we are." She added, "It is through sharing this story, I’m hoping to regain my strength and joy."

"I’m on my way back to the person I know I can and should be."

Many of O'Hara's Drag Race sisters showed their support:

While O'Hara didn't mention how the abuse started, many fans believe the catalyst was that "Evil Twins" episode and Miz Cracker's elimination. When asked which of the queens on the runway they would send home, O'Hara expressed to the judges that she didn't see Cracker's star power.

In interviews following her elimination, Miz Cracker rode that victim momentum, saltily bragging about how many more Instagram followers she has, offered O'Hara gig-booking tips, and dryly called O'Hara a "cunt."

Even though she didn't say jk, we can presume Cracker's comments are jokes meant to poke fun at the spat. Later in the interview in which she calls O'Hara a cunt, she admits, "Asia and I now have fun giving each other headaches."

But like many of Miz Cracker's jokes on the show, they didn't quite land and aren't that funny. Comments like these could've provided fodder for Miz Cracker's large and rabid fanbase to relentlessly attack O'Hara.

O'Hara's recent interview with Billboard where she called out Drag Race's racial bias also might've opened her up to abuse. "I've been on gigs in the past couple weeks that have basically told me that the only reason I'm there is because Kameron or Aquaria or Miz Cracker are too expensive," she explained. "The last couple months have been the first time in my life where I have ever felt that I wasn't treated equally because I'm a person of color."

As The Vixen called out earlier this season, black queens simply aren't given the same platform that white queens on the show. Bob the Drag Queen recently pointed out that the most popular queens on the show are usually thin and white, and that no black queen (besides RuPaul) has over a million Instagram followers.

If we learned anything from the Valentina/Nina Bonina Brown debacle of last season, it's that Drag Race fans can be toxic. In the wrong hands, shady comments can become ammunition and when fans aim those bullets at black queens, it quickly becomes racist.