Tyra Sanchez

James Ross IV, better known by his stage name Tyra Sanchez, is an American drag queen and reality television personality. A frequent drag impersonator of pop star Beyoncé, Ross is best known as the winner of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race.^[1]

Career

A native of Gainesville, Florida, Ross moved to Orlando, where he resided for most of his life. During his time on RuPaul's Drag Race, Ross spoke candidly about his periods of homelessness and personal challenges prior to auditioning for and being selected to appear on the show. Ross' old-school drag style and glamor made him a favorite of the judges although his acerbic personality earned him the disdain of his fellow contestants. Currently residing in Atlanta, Ross performs throughout the United States and Canada.

At the time he won the title, Ross was one of the youngest contestants to appear on RuPaul's Drag Race; he was also one of the few contestants on the show who never had to lip sync in order to avoid elimination prior to the season finale. After winning Drag Race, Ross served as a drag professor and mentor of beauty- and fashion-challenged women on the second season of RuPaul's Drag U.^[2] In April 2011, Sanchez released his first dance single, "Look At Me Now."

In June 2012, it was announced that a documentary film discussing Ross's role as a father was in production. Titled Drag Dad and directed by Icelandic director Björn Flóki, the documentary will document Ross's role as both a father and drag queen celebrity. An online fundraising campaign garnered more than US$20,000 in donations toward the film's production and distribution expenses.^[3][4]

Personal life

Ross is single and has one son whom he co-parents with the child's mother. Ross was arrested on August 16, 2011 after Gwinnett County police discovered a small amount of marijuana in his car. He was released the following day after his $1,300 bond was posted.^[5]

Ross was accused for beating up a security guard on September 11, 2014 during an autograph session.^[6]

On August 10, 2015 Ross sent a tweet to a fan of the show who called him annoying, telling the fan, "kill yourself," which was met with backlash and outrage across Twitter and Facebook. He later stated that he would not apologize for his opinion, and went on to call victims of suicide "selfish cowards."^[7] A petition^[8] was made calling for RuPaul to revoke Ross' crown and title, or at least speak out against it. RuPaul broke silence in his podcast,^[9] defending Ross' attitude, and stated: "Twitter is not the place for that. People don’t get nuance on Twitter, you can’t do irony on Twitter, people won’t get it." During the podcast she added: "On Twitter, you don’t hear inflection, you don’t hear snark, you don’t hear sarcasm." To further corroborate her stance on the matter she appealed to the audiences to take Sanchez's comments in jest.

References

External links

• Official website