Symone is a woman of many labels: RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner, member of the queer pop culture collective the House of Avalon, and actress in projects like Station 19 and Bros, just to name a few. But one of her proudest labels might come as a surprise to most readers: Scandal superfan from day one.
As the 29-year-old model tells Shondaland, she began watching the hit series in its nascency as a teenager after a promo on ABC piqued her interest. “I watched the first episode and was like, ‘Oh, my god, where is this gonna go?’” she recalls, speaking over a recent Zoom call from her Los Angeles home. “I was just hooked.”
Nearly 12 years later, Symone is perhaps even more obsessed with Scandal than her teenage self was. “Anytime I get to talk about it, I talk about it all the time,” she says — including most recently on Shondaland’s Scandal-centric podcast Unpacking the Toolbox, now in its second season. The podcast is hosted by two of the show’s stars, Katie Lowes and Guillermo Diaz, and they brought Symone on a May episode to talk about all things Scandal, including the drag queen’s admitted dislike of Lowes’ controversial Quinn Perkins.
“I’d say, ‘Don’t be mad at me, Katie, but I didn’t enjoy your character,’” Symone says with a laugh. “And she’d be like, ‘Girl, I get it. Quinn was annoying.’”
Lowes teasing aside, Unpacking the Toolbox gave Symone the opportunity to discuss her enduring love for the show, which she frequently rewatches whenever she gets a chance. From Scandal’s very first episodes, she was drawn to the character of Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) in particular.
“I loved that she was a woman who kind of paved her own way,” Symone explains. “She had such command of the room — people trusted her, people respected her more than anything. Whatever she said went, and they trusted her judgment … and she earned it. It was never given to her.”
Olivia’s power and influence were especially notable back in the early 2010s, she adds, when few Black women on-screen were portrayed in that light. “At the time, you didn’t really see that a lot,” Symone says. “She was a groundbreaking character.”
On the podcast episode and in our interview, she points to a few memorable Scandal scenes featuring Olivia at her boldest, including the season three episode in which the fixer confronted potential Vice President Andrew (Jon Tenney) about his affair with current First Lady Mellie (Bellamy Young). “That’s my favorite moment of the entire show because it’s such a power battle,” Symone says. Another unforgettable scene for her came in season five when a now-disgraced Andrew threatened to reveal Fitz and Olivia’s relationship to the press — resulting in Olivia taking matters into her own hands. “That’s my favorite episode because it just pushes everyone to the edge,” the queen explains. “It’s when Olivia finally releases all of her pent-up anger that she’s been going through from the past season and a half.”
Symone’s most beloved Scandal memories aren’t all quite as dark, though. A fashion plate known for her scene-stealing Drag Race gowns and red-carpet looks, Symone recalls falling in love with several of Olivia’s outfits on the show, including her iconic coats, collection of Prada bags, and this striking black-and-white dress the character donned for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in season three. “It’s so beautiful to me because it was one of the few times when you got to see Olivia in formal wear and getting to be kind of girlish and soft and feminine, but she still [was a] commanding presence,” Symone says. “I’ll never forget it.”
As much as she adores Olivia’s fashions, though, there’s a reason you never saw her copying any of Olivia’s looks during her Scandal-viewing days. “I admired it, and I think it was such an important formulation for her character, but it wasn’t really something I wanted to emulate,” Symone says, laughing. “I think I wanted more of her spirit, how she presents herself, how she walks through life.”
On her Unpacking the Toolbox episode, the model got to reminisce about Olivia’s trailblazing journey with hosts Lowes and Diaz, the latter of whom she co-starred with in the 2022 romantic comedy Bros. Back then, when Symone first learned that she’d be acting alongside a star of her beloved Scandal, she “freaked out.”
“I was like, ‘Oh, my god, it’s Huck!’” she recalls. Early in the film’s production, Symone and Diaz were sitting together in a van coming back from the set, and the drag queen worked up the courage to tell him about her Scandal fandom.
“I said, ‘I’m trying not to freak out publicly in your face, but I love you so much, and I grew up with your character, and Scandal is a top favorite show of mine,’” Symone remembers telling Diaz. “And he was like, ‘Oh, my god, are you serious? No way.’ He was so sweet about it.”
Earlier this year, when Diaz asked her to come on the podcast, her answer was immediate. “I was like, ‘Oh, my god, when, where, what do I need to do?’” Symone says.
She had such a good time doing the podcast, she says, that she’d be happy to come back for another round — that is, if she manages to find the time. These days, Symone’s schedule is packed with projects both in front of and behind the camera, including a recent guest stint on Shondaland’s Station 19 as a drag queen named Mary Mint who takes center stage in a Seattle Pride parade. The actress says that when she was approached for the role, she was “over the moon” because of both her love of Shondaland shows and how meaningful the part would be for LGBTQ+ visibility on-screen. “It’s very cool that drag queens are asked [to be on the series] because it means the networks are accepting it and allowing it to happen,” she says, noting that Station 19 previously featured Shangela and several other queens. Says Symone, “I’m always grateful, and I’m always very happy.”
She hopes to keep pursuing acting roles as they come, whether performing in drag or not. “I’m open to it all,” she notes. Right now, her plate is full between filming season two of her reality TV show Avalon TV, hosting her talk show On Tonight, and of course, rewatching Scandal. “Every episode, I find something new that I didn’t catch the first time, so it’s always fun,” she says with a grin. “I love it.”