The season 16 finalist previously called Roan’s love for drag “performative” and later clarified that she loved the pop starlet.
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 finalist Plane Jane has landed another bit on a mainstream runway — this time as she attended the 2024 MTV VMAs while dressed as rising pop star Chappell Roan.
The Boston-based drag queen, who placed third on the most recent season of the Emmy-winning reality competition series, attended Wednesday’s MTV awards show in a pink cowboy hat, corset, and a full face of white-base makeup in Roan’s signature style as seen in the “Pink Pony Club” music video. The Drag Race star recently courted eyeballs for a since-deleted X post about Roan, in which she called the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer-songwriter’s love for drag “performative,” but later clarified “I love [Roan]” in a follow-up message — enough, now, that she attended the VMAs in her likeness.
“I wanted to pay homage to my favorite artist’s favorite artist, Chappell Roan, of course!” Plane tells Entertainment Weekly through a representative, when reached for comment.
In the red carpet livestream below, at around the 1:22:10 mark, Plane can also be seen pretending to recoil from the cameras as she posed for a group shot next to her Drag Race season 16 sisters Morphine Love Dion (in her first major public appearance since surviving a violent car crash in July), Xunami Muse, Megami, Dawn, Mirage, and winner Nymphia Wind.
The move invoked Roan’s recent public comments about her intention to “draw lines and set boundaries” separating her from intrusive fan behavior.
“This has nothing to do with the gratitude and love I feel for my community, for the people who respect my boundaries, and for the love I feel from every person who lifts me up and has stuck with me to help the project get to where it is now,” Roan, who identifies as a lesbian, said in an Instagram post, stressing that she intended to target “predatory behavior” that she felt pop stars have endured over the years. “Please do not assume you know a lot about someone’s life, personality, and boundaries because you are familiar with them or their work online.”
Plane’s statement to EW about her VMAs look is a clear nod to Chappell’s Coachella reference to Drag Race season 15 winner Sasha Colby’s Meet the Queens cast reveal video. On stage at the music festival, Roan told the crowd, “My name is Chappell Roan. I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist, invoking Sasha’s “I am your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen” line in the MTQ clip.
“Since Drag Race, we are pop, the tastemakers, and pop girlies look to us for inspiration — much like Chappell Roan!” Sasha — who’s set to introduce Roan at the 2024 VMAs — exclusively told EW of the moment in a subsequent interview. “All I can say is, goddess sees goddess, you know? Greatness sees greatness!”