September 26, 2025 • 16 mins
"No Tea, No Shade is an essential read for anyone who has searched for a way to feel like themselves." - BooklistIntimate, hilarious, and inspiring essays by celebrated drag queens Kennedy Ann Scott, Lagoona Bloo, Alexis Michelle, Olivia Lux, Julie J., and Nina West.No Tea, No Shade is a collective anthem written by six drag queens who believe in equality, peace, and in a world that loves and respects all people. The defiant legacy of drag will endure fearmongering and hate because their hearts have endured the unthinkable, their courage has been relentlessly tested, and to be blunt, they have the balls to prevail. When these gorgeous queens wear a stunning gown with picture perfect makeup, haters label them as inappropriate and unlawful. They are entertainers not predators. Drag is an art of self-expression that, at its core, affirms and uplifts LGBTQIA+ people. No Tea, No Shade features thirty essays discussing:. Social activism, Drag Story Hour, and education.. Coming out, gender, and equality.. Relationships, setting goals, and rejection.. Celebrating womanhood, family, and image.. Kennedy Ann Scott was awarded Teacher of the Year in Nashville, Tennessee. Lagoona Bloo starred on the Off-Broadway hit Drag: the Musical, and Alex Michaels received a stellar review from the New York Times for their role in La Cage Aux Falles at Barrington Stage Company. Olivia Lux starred in Rent and Kinky Boots. Julie J raised more than $100,000 for trans and LGBTQIA+ organizations. Nina West received an honorary doctorate in May 2024 and is a well-known entertainer, having worked with everyone from Glenn Close to Kermit the Frog.Despite the pervasive danger of being authentic and real, these drag artists have chosen to fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. They remind us that a person's identity shouldn't be marginalized to genitals. Identity categories are not as important as we have been led to believe, and the shade casted on drag is just a scapegoat. It is a distraction political figures and trolls use to lure people away from caring about serious issues like equality, gun violence, poverty, and racism.No Tea, No Shade shines a light on a community of people who are paving the way for a better world and holding the light for others to step up.KENNEDY ANN SCOTT BIO Kennedy Ann Scott is the stage name of Benjamin Slinkard. Benjamin is a Blue Ribbon Teacher and has been awarded Teacher of the Year for his service as an educator for Metro Public Schools. He has been recognized by the Nashville community as a top performer and claims residency at the Lipstick Lounge. He has been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine and the New York Times. Benjamin resides in Nashville, TN and is an advocate for children and members of the LGBTQIA community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Hello, Hey, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I am fantastic. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Anybody who uses that word fantastic lives it and we
do everything we can to promote it. Just not everybody
understands what it is that we're bringing forward.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That's so true, man, I got.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
To tell you something here and being here in the Carolinas,
I'm sure you've heard every story in the world when
it comes to drag and how everybody wants to get
involved and get you know, interfering things. But here's the thing.
I want to go back to the very beginning. I
always thought, growing up in the state of Montana that
every little boy, when they saw their mother with it
with a gigantic pile of clothes, we all dressed up
in women's clothes. I just thought that was part of
growing up and exploring and so and is that dragged
(00:38):
to me is the same thing. You're exploring your inner
art self and you're coming out and you're singing, you're dancing,
you're showing love, emotion and community. That is just mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I mean, like you said, like I think it is
kind of like a rite of passage of growing up
where we all want to experiment with.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Things that were just comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You know, when I was five years old, there was
we had playtime in kindergarten and I would always run
over to the dress up trunk and I would pull
out this yellow dress with white daisies, and it was
my favorite thing in my five year old life.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I loved that dress.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I there's a picture of me with it, and I
look at it now and I'm like, oh, my gosh.
Fashion choices at the time, But but we all want
to we all want to live that life where we
just want to be ourselves. And I think that self
exploration is the most valuable thing because it's you know,
for the boys that that isn't their thing later in life,
(01:37):
they still just got to explore and be like, oh
my gosh, it's so fun they you know, we look
up to our moms and all the time, a lot
of us little boys look up to our moms, and
even our adult males still look to our mothers for
guidance and support. But we always just wanted to you know,
you always want to be like the people that you
love the most. And I think we all just want
(01:59):
to like literally fill in their shoes, put on their heels,
feel what it's like to be our mom.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, I've always believed even when little boys grow up
into big guys who are into comic books and things
like that, it's still a form of playing house because
they see themselves inside those characters, playing out those roles.
I'm going this is no difference than being a child
with a little refrigerator, said, and a grocery store a
little register.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh for sure. For sure.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And you know, and I think the thing with you know,
boys in general, and especially gay men, we never get
to grow up authentically as ourselves from day one, and
so I think even grown men still want to live
that fantasy of being that little boy who got to
(02:45):
explore and who got to put on the superhero cape
because it made them feel invincible, it made them feel
better about themselves. And I think I think we're seeing
that more and more because society, in my opinion, is
getting more and more top with this masculinity of what
it is to be a man. When all of these
things it means to be a man, It just means
(03:07):
to be a good human.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, And that's what amen? Amen? Amen, Now, were you
old enough to go through the androgyny period? Because my God,
in heaven, I was in heaven when that was happening.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yes, was, I don't. I'm thirty seven, so.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Oh you were a baby baby. Yeah, this was definitely
in mid eighties with your rhythmics and Duran Duran and
all that kind of stuff, and so.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, I was the tail in of the eighties.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I mean even def Leppard put the makeup on, and
we have a president that puts makeup on. Come on, now,
we should all be wearing makeup.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, the thing about it is is also all those
men mostly identify as straight, and so I think that
also comes with it, is like with the with the
pop culture and having men dressed up as female characters
and doing a lot of drag like too Long sou
Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar and the bird Cage and
(03:58):
all that. All of these men who played these drag
queen roles in those times, we're all straight men.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
And then when we see like.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
With RuPaul's Drag Race becoming so popular, but we have
now we're kind of going backwards with oh drag is bad.
It's because the queer art form of drag. Now people
are like, oh, queer men are doing it, feminine queer
men are doing it. Oh, that's not masculine anymore. It's
not funny, it's not this. And it's like, well, where
do we draw the line? Because it has always been
(04:28):
a queer art form and it's always been a form
of expression. So are we saying that we don't like
expression or are we saying we actually don't like the
art form?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Oh, you have no idea. How many people say, stop
being a drama queen. I'm not. I'm just speaking reality
here people.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yes, for real.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
But then I think it goes back to like where
we are in society right now with all of this
toxic masculinity.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And I know people get tired.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Of hearing that buzzword, but you have to say it
over and over again because people have to start noticing
what we're actually doing.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, I think we need more social activism because, you know,
because we've got to keep the talk going. It can't
be one of those things where it's like you happen
to pop across the streaming outlet and oh, here's this
conversation about drag And I mean, it's got to be
part of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
For sure, But we have to start having these conversations
and the thing about it is is people are very
complex creatures, but at the end of the day, everyone
wants simplicity and no one wants to really have the
hard conversations. I welcome questions all the time. I love
curious people. I'm a teacher in my regular day life,
(05:35):
and then I'm a drag.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Queen at night.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So I love when my students come and they are
so curious and they ask all these amazing questions. I
don't have a problem answering questions. What I have a
problem with is that people are automatically assuming I'm a
terrible person because I am a drag queen and a teacher,
and we need to open up those dialogues more so,
(05:57):
I always tell people I welcome the question. If you
think you have an awkward question, I'm a safe person.
Ask me your question, let me see, and then I
can tell you what I think, and then I can say,
next time you want to ask a question, rephrase it
like this. It's all about keeping those communication lines open. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So, now to put a project like this, No Tea,
No Shade together, I mean, you're creating with a lot
of other writers, a lot of other creative people, and
you know what that can be like sometimes because we
love our creativity and we love our space.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, we do, you know, all of us.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I never got to work with all the girls in
the book in professional until this book, but getting to
really know them and their vulnerable side has been so
intriguing and great because I got to see a lot
of them on television and stuff, and I'm like, oh
my gosh, they are my inspiration as well, and now
getting to work with them and finding out that our
(06:53):
stories are so similar in some aspects, and it's so
nice to see other peopeople in my community dealing with
the same thing, so I have some more people to
talk to about what I'm going through, because not everybody
can relate to being a drag queen because it is
such a special art form in all of that, and
(07:14):
it was so nice to see.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
All these creative people.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
We each wrote our own and then we all came
together and was like, you know, here's what I've written,
Here's what I've written, and how it all just meshed
together so well, it's just a beautiful book.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Please do not move. There's more with Kennedy and Scott
coming up next. The name of the book no tea,
no shade. We're checking back in with Kennedy and Scott.
I was the host of several Mister Wittenberg contests. That's
where the male teachers would get together and dress up
like women in the community and they would come out
and dance and sing and have the greatest time. This
(07:48):
was an elementary school that brought the community together to
raise funds for the school. It's like, what is wrong here?
There's nothing wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It's just it's fun and it's enlightening, and it's saying
that we are just all human and we're all trying
to live our own lives, live our own authentic lives,
and be true to ourselves and have fun. I mean,
in the end, nobody gets out alive. It's all about
having fun and what you do with the with the
(08:19):
world around you.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Wow, Michael came in for just a couple of seconds. Michael,
were you saying that it was time for me to stop?
Or do I get to go to thirty?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I have you all the way till I saw you
pop in there. I'm thinking, Wow, there's some power and
some spirit there.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I will tell you this on the androgynist side. He
more related to my chemical romance, because that is true.
That is yes, left off that.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
See, it's it's all been around us and we've all
accepted it and then somebody has to spur something up
and all of a sudden, now that the drink has
been stirred and it's getting people all wacky for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, it's also it's also the people. The less that
they understand, the more that they make up. And it's
people who who haven't really embraced the culture in that
moment that they might just see a clip and they're like, oh,
that's awful. Like, for instance, there was there's a meme
of RuPaul's drag race and it's a woman standing on
(09:17):
stage with the other drag queens and the comment is, oh,
I can't believe men dressed like this. It's so gross,
and it's Christina Aguilera.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
And so what is so funny to me is that
people are not even paying attention. They're not paying attention,
they're just being told all these things and they're not
actually doing the research for themselves. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, see, I've always believed that they need to reimagine
the movie Mulan rouge, and I want them to put
drag queens in there because I to me, Mulan rouge,
to me, is all about the drag show.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It is not about women dressing up with clothing that
men would have been wearing, Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And I love that idea we should market.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, but I mean, but that's where we are. We
seem to be on the corner of walk and don't walk.
And the thing about it is, though, until you've experienced
a real drag show, especially, you've got to get there early,
when when everybody arrives in their everyday close and you
have no idea where the mystery ship is going.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
For sure, for sure you know.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And then and we talk about this in the book
about and I think the good thing about No Tinocheade
is that we are exposing people to not only the
drag life, but getting them to see that we are
human beings first, and we've all gone through these things
and we've got to sprinkle in the fabulousness of drag
(10:44):
which saved a lot of our lives and which helped
us become the people that we are today.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So I think this book will give people who are unsure.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
About the drag art, more insight into the drag art
so they can be more educated about it, so we
don't say silly things like that they don't understand.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know what's gonna happen with this book is that
a lot of men are going to buy it, but
they're going to hide it underneath their driver's seat or
somewhere in the house, and they're going to go into
it and get little sneak peaks each time, and they're
going to freakin learn something.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, and I love that, And you know what, and.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I still hate the fact that they think that they
have to hide it under their seat to where it
can just where it can just be good literature.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, but you know what, it I can't.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I try not to shame people in their own path
of life because we've all walked through it, right, I'm
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But at the same time, it's twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It is time to live out loud because silence equals death.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Ew ooh. Yeah, but look where we are. Really, we've
got those led Zeppelin freaks who will sit there. They'll say, yeah,
I listen to Karen and Richard Carpenter with close to you, Yeah,
and I'm going w well, see it can, things can happen,
Magic can happen.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, and magic happens every day.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Now, what did you learn from doing this project? Because
I mean, there's a lot here, and to me and
call me if I'm wrong. I believe this is a
celebration of life when you go into this with an
open heart and a willingness to really embrace it. Oh
my god, it's an experience.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yes, and I would it is an experience.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And what I learned was that I was stronger than
I thought. Really, yes, I was stronger than I thought
was when I was a kid, because I talk about
my bullying experiences in elementary school, middle school, high school,
and even college.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And I looked back after.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did this with this vulnerability, and I said, I
was way stronger in life than I ever thought, and
that I had support for myself.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Which was the biggest thing of all.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
That I was lacking or as a child and didn't
feel myself, but I had it inside myself the whole time.
So I really got to relearn myself all over again.
And then I got to learn that the other girls
in the book went through similar things and that I
had a whole team around me to support me.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You experienced what I call rebirth, And what I mean
by that is is that you went through all of
that bullying all the way up into your college years.
Where along the line did you get that rebirth where
you finally said, I'm done with this. I am going
to live my life. I am going to live it
the way I want to, and if any bullies come around,
you got me to take you on.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yes, you know, it was probably in college when Kennedy
and Scott was first born. Yeah, my grandmother passed away
a week before I started college. And she was my
best friend growing up because she was just always there
for me. And it was after her death it kind
of sparked, life is so short and am I going
(13:45):
to sit around and be unhappy for all of my life?
Or am I going to take all of this and
turn it into something that I can flourish. And Kennedy
Ann was born. She gave me my strength, she gave
me my armor to take on those bullies, to take
on life, and she's been with me ever since.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And it's just really just put my life out there.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
And helped so many other people because I care so
deeply for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Professional to professional, you become Kennedy and Scott I become
Aero Collins. When do they get to have something to
speak about inside your daily journal or in something in
your life, because you're still that person in real life
on the other side, But man Kennedy and Scott Man,
whoa what's man? We talk about confidence there.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
She is full of confidence.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And you know she's helped me Ben as a as
a person say you know what, You're just as good.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
You can make it. You know.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I do put on the wigs, I do put on
the heels, I put on the bright colored dresses, and
I become somebody. People in a room like, listen to me.
But then when I go home, I get to journal
how Bin's day was. I get to talk about the
stories that I had with my kids, you know, in
the school day, I get to talk about my colleagues
and my teachers. So and then I to take all
(15:00):
those experiences from the classroom and apply it to my
drag of how to manage a bar and keep the
unruly people down. I get to take what I learned
in the drag world of entertaining and entertain my students
so that they understand the learning and they grow from it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I believe that you don't get tips unless you can relate.
And when you bring real life into your show, all
of a sudden you're relating with those and they're all going,
my God, you speak my street for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And that's what I want. I just want.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
If someone's having the worst day of their life, I
want them to come to my show and I want
them to just let loose for a little bit, have fun.
Know that I am there for them not only to entertain,
but to be a shoulder. Because everyone who comes to
a Kennedy An show is somebody to me.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
All right, Kennedy Ann Scott. Where can people go to
find you and where can they learn from you and
be shown a way of just embracing life. We need
to embrace life.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes on all my socials are at myths Ms Kennedy
and Scott, and you can find me on all the socials.
I have a website, Miss Kennedy and Scott dot com
Diva Central.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You can find me on everywhere.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And please go out and buy this book, No Tea,
No Shade, Life as a Drag Queen, where you can
learn all about me and five other amazing drag queens.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You got to come back to this show anytime in
the future. The door is always open. I love where
your heart is.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Thank you and I've loved of talking with you. Thank
you for having me so much.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Will you be brilliant today? Okay, I'm gonna try. Have fun.
Hello, Hello, Hey, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I am fantastic. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Anybody who uses that word fantastic lives it and we
do everything we can to promote it. Just not everybody
understands what it is that we're bringing forward.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
That's so true, man, I got.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
To tell you something here and being here in the Carolinas,
I'm sure you've heard every story in the world when
it comes to drag and how everybody wants to get
involved and get you know, interfering things. But here's the thing.
I want to go back to the very beginning. I
always thought, growing up in the state of Montana that
every little boy, when they saw their mother with it
with a gigantic pile of clothes, we all dressed up
in women's clothes. I just thought that was part of
growing up and exploring and so and is that dragged
(00:38):
to me is the same thing. You're exploring your inner
art self and you're coming out and you're singing, you're dancing,
you're showing love, emotion and community. That is just mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
I mean, like you said, like I think it is
kind of like a rite of passage of growing up
where we all want to experiment with.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Things that were just comfortable with.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You know, when I was five years old, there was
we had playtime in kindergarten and I would always run
over to the dress up trunk and I would pull
out this yellow dress with white daisies, and it was
my favorite thing in my five year old life.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I loved that dress.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
I there's a picture of me with it, and I
look at it now and I'm like, oh, my gosh.
Fashion choices at the time, But but we all want
to we all want to live that life where we
just want to be ourselves. And I think that self
exploration is the most valuable thing because it's you know,
for the boys that that isn't their thing later in life,
(01:37):
they still just got to explore and be like, oh
my gosh, it's so fun they you know, we look
up to our moms and all the time, a lot
of us little boys look up to our moms, and
even our adult males still look to our mothers for
guidance and support. But we always just wanted to you know,
you always want to be like the people that you
love the most. And I think we all just want
(01:59):
to like literally fill in their shoes, put on their heels,
feel what it's like to be our mom.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Well, I've always believed even when little boys grow up
into big guys who are into comic books and things
like that, it's still a form of playing house because
they see themselves inside those characters, playing out those roles.
I'm going this is no difference than being a child
with a little refrigerator, said, and a grocery store a
little register.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh for sure. For sure.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
And you know, and I think the thing with you know,
boys in general, and especially gay men, we never get
to grow up authentically as ourselves from day one, and
so I think even grown men still want to live
that fantasy of being that little boy who got to
(02:45):
explore and who got to put on the superhero cape
because it made them feel invincible, it made them feel
better about themselves. And I think I think we're seeing
that more and more because society, in my opinion, is
getting more and more top with this masculinity of what
it is to be a man. When all of these
things it means to be a man, It just means
(03:07):
to be a good human.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yeah, And that's what amen? Amen? Amen, Now, were you
old enough to go through the androgyny period? Because my God,
in heaven, I was in heaven when that was happening.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yes, was, I don't. I'm thirty seven, so.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Oh you were a baby baby. Yeah, this was definitely
in mid eighties with your rhythmics and Duran Duran and
all that kind of stuff, and so.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, I was the tail in of the eighties.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I mean even def Leppard put the makeup on, and
we have a president that puts makeup on. Come on, now,
we should all be wearing makeup.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, the thing about it is is also all those
men mostly identify as straight, and so I think that
also comes with it, is like with the with the
pop culture and having men dressed up as female characters
and doing a lot of drag like too Long sou
Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar and the bird Cage and
(03:58):
all that. All of these men who played these drag
queen roles in those times, we're all straight men.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
And then when we see like.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
With RuPaul's Drag Race becoming so popular, but we have
now we're kind of going backwards with oh drag is bad.
It's because the queer art form of drag. Now people
are like, oh, queer men are doing it, feminine queer
men are doing it. Oh, that's not masculine anymore. It's
not funny, it's not this. And it's like, well, where
do we draw the line? Because it has always been
(04:28):
a queer art form and it's always been a form
of expression. So are we saying that we don't like
expression or are we saying we actually don't like the
art form?
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Oh, you have no idea. How many people say, stop
being a drama queen. I'm not. I'm just speaking reality
here people.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yes, for real.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
But then I think it goes back to like where
we are in society right now with all of this
toxic masculinity.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
And I know people get tired.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Of hearing that buzzword, but you have to say it
over and over again because people have to start noticing
what we're actually doing.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, I think we need more social activism because, you know,
because we've got to keep the talk going. It can't
be one of those things where it's like you happen
to pop across the streaming outlet and oh, here's this
conversation about drag And I mean, it's got to be
part of the conversation.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
For sure, But we have to start having these conversations
and the thing about it is is people are very
complex creatures, but at the end of the day, everyone
wants simplicity and no one wants to really have the
hard conversations. I welcome questions all the time. I love
curious people. I'm a teacher in my regular day life,
(05:35):
and then I'm a drag.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Queen at night.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So I love when my students come and they are
so curious and they ask all these amazing questions. I
don't have a problem answering questions. What I have a
problem with is that people are automatically assuming I'm a
terrible person because I am a drag queen and a teacher,
and we need to open up those dialogues more so,
(05:57):
I always tell people I welcome the question. If you
think you have an awkward question, I'm a safe person.
Ask me your question, let me see, and then I
can tell you what I think, and then I can say,
next time you want to ask a question, rephrase it
like this. It's all about keeping those communication lines open. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
So, now to put a project like this, No Tea,
No Shade together, I mean, you're creating with a lot
of other writers, a lot of other creative people, and
you know what that can be like sometimes because we
love our creativity and we love our space.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, we do, you know, all of us.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I never got to work with all the girls in
the book in professional until this book, but getting to
really know them and their vulnerable side has been so
intriguing and great because I got to see a lot
of them on television and stuff, and I'm like, oh
my gosh, they are my inspiration as well, and now
getting to work with them and finding out that our
(06:53):
stories are so similar in some aspects, and it's so
nice to see other peopeople in my community dealing with
the same thing, so I have some more people to
talk to about what I'm going through, because not everybody
can relate to being a drag queen because it is
such a special art form in all of that, and
(07:14):
it was so nice to see.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
All these creative people.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
We each wrote our own and then we all came
together and was like, you know, here's what I've written,
Here's what I've written, and how it all just meshed
together so well, it's just a beautiful book.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Please do not move. There's more with Kennedy and Scott
coming up next. The name of the book no tea,
no shade. We're checking back in with Kennedy and Scott.
I was the host of several Mister Wittenberg contests. That's
where the male teachers would get together and dress up
like women in the community and they would come out
and dance and sing and have the greatest time. This
(07:48):
was an elementary school that brought the community together to
raise funds for the school. It's like, what is wrong here?
There's nothing wrong?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, yeah, there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
It's just it's fun and it's enlightening, and it's saying
that we are just all human and we're all trying
to live our own lives, live our own authentic lives,
and be true to ourselves and have fun. I mean,
in the end, nobody gets out alive. It's all about
having fun and what you do with the with the
(08:19):
world around you.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Wow, Michael came in for just a couple of seconds. Michael,
were you saying that it was time for me to stop?
Or do I get to go to thirty?
Speaker 3 (08:27):
No?
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I have you all the way till I saw you
pop in there. I'm thinking, Wow, there's some power and
some spirit there.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I will tell you this on the androgynist side. He
more related to my chemical romance, because that is true.
That is yes, left off that.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
See, it's it's all been around us and we've all
accepted it and then somebody has to spur something up
and all of a sudden, now that the drink has
been stirred and it's getting people all wacky for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Well, it's also it's also the people. The less that
they understand, the more that they make up. And it's
people who who haven't really embraced the culture in that
moment that they might just see a clip and they're like, oh,
that's awful. Like, for instance, there was there's a meme
of RuPaul's drag race and it's a woman standing on
(09:17):
stage with the other drag queens and the comment is, oh,
I can't believe men dressed like this. It's so gross,
and it's Christina Aguilera.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
And so what is so funny to me is that
people are not even paying attention. They're not paying attention,
they're just being told all these things and they're not
actually doing the research for themselves. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, see, I've always believed that they need to reimagine
the movie Mulan rouge, and I want them to put
drag queens in there because I to me, Mulan rouge,
to me, is all about the drag show.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
It is.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It is not about women dressing up with clothing that
men would have been wearing, Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And I love that idea we should market.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, but I mean, but that's where we are. We
seem to be on the corner of walk and don't walk.
And the thing about it is, though, until you've experienced
a real drag show, especially, you've got to get there early,
when when everybody arrives in their everyday close and you
have no idea where the mystery ship is going.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
For sure, for sure you know.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And then and we talk about this in the book
about and I think the good thing about No Tinocheade
is that we are exposing people to not only the
drag life, but getting them to see that we are
human beings first, and we've all gone through these things
and we've got to sprinkle in the fabulousness of drag
(10:44):
which saved a lot of our lives and which helped
us become the people that we are today.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
So I think this book will give people who are unsure.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
About the drag art, more insight into the drag art
so they can be more educated about it, so we
don't say silly things like that they don't understand.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know what's gonna happen with this book is that
a lot of men are going to buy it, but
they're going to hide it underneath their driver's seat or
somewhere in the house, and they're going to go into
it and get little sneak peaks each time, and they're
going to freakin learn something.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, and I love that, And you know what, and.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
I still hate the fact that they think that they
have to hide it under their seat to where it
can just where it can just be good literature.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, but you know what, it I can't.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I try not to shame people in their own path
of life because we've all walked through it, right, I'm
you know.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But at the same time, it's twenty twenty five.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It is time to live out loud because silence equals death.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Ew ooh. Yeah, but look where we are. Really, we've
got those led Zeppelin freaks who will sit there. They'll say, yeah,
I listen to Karen and Richard Carpenter with close to you, Yeah,
and I'm going w well, see it can, things can happen,
Magic can happen.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, and magic happens every day.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Now, what did you learn from doing this project? Because
I mean, there's a lot here, and to me and
call me if I'm wrong. I believe this is a
celebration of life when you go into this with an
open heart and a willingness to really embrace it. Oh
my god, it's an experience.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yes, and I would it is an experience.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And what I learned was that I was stronger than
I thought. Really, yes, I was stronger than I thought
was when I was a kid, because I talk about
my bullying experiences in elementary school, middle school, high school,
and even college.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And I looked back after.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
I did this with this vulnerability, and I said, I
was way stronger in life than I ever thought, and
that I had support for myself.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Which was the biggest thing of all.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
That I was lacking or as a child and didn't
feel myself, but I had it inside myself the whole time.
So I really got to relearn myself all over again.
And then I got to learn that the other girls
in the book went through similar things and that I
had a whole team around me to support me.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You experienced what I call rebirth, And what I mean
by that is is that you went through all of
that bullying all the way up into your college years.
Where along the line did you get that rebirth where
you finally said, I'm done with this. I am going
to live my life. I am going to live it
the way I want to, and if any bullies come around,
you got me to take you on.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yes, you know, it was probably in college when Kennedy
and Scott was first born. Yeah, my grandmother passed away
a week before I started college. And she was my
best friend growing up because she was just always there
for me. And it was after her death it kind
of sparked, life is so short and am I going
(13:45):
to sit around and be unhappy for all of my life?
Or am I going to take all of this and
turn it into something that I can flourish. And Kennedy
Ann was born. She gave me my strength, she gave
me my armor to take on those bullies, to take
on life, and she's been with me ever since.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And it's just really just put my life out there.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
And helped so many other people because I care so
deeply for everyone.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Professional to professional, you become Kennedy and Scott I become
Aero Collins. When do they get to have something to
speak about inside your daily journal or in something in
your life, because you're still that person in real life
on the other side, But man Kennedy and Scott Man,
whoa what's man? We talk about confidence there.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
She is full of confidence.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And you know she's helped me Ben as a as
a person say you know what, You're just as good.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
You can make it. You know.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I do put on the wigs, I do put on
the heels, I put on the bright colored dresses, and
I become somebody. People in a room like, listen to me.
But then when I go home, I get to journal
how Bin's day was. I get to talk about the
stories that I had with my kids, you know, in
the school day, I get to talk about my colleagues
and my teachers. So and then I to take all
(15:00):
those experiences from the classroom and apply it to my
drag of how to manage a bar and keep the
unruly people down. I get to take what I learned
in the drag world of entertaining and entertain my students
so that they understand the learning and they grow from it.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I believe that you don't get tips unless you can relate.
And when you bring real life into your show, all
of a sudden you're relating with those and they're all going,
my God, you speak my street for sure.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
And that's what I want. I just want.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
If someone's having the worst day of their life, I
want them to come to my show and I want
them to just let loose for a little bit, have fun.
Know that I am there for them not only to entertain,
but to be a shoulder. Because everyone who comes to
a Kennedy An show is somebody to me.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
All right, Kennedy Ann Scott. Where can people go to
find you and where can they learn from you and
be shown a way of just embracing life. We need
to embrace life.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yes on all my socials are at myths Ms Kennedy
and Scott, and you can find me on all the socials.
I have a website, Miss Kennedy and Scott dot com
Diva Central.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You can find me on everywhere.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And please go out and buy this book, No Tea,
No Shade, Life as a Drag Queen, where you can
learn all about me and five other amazing drag queens.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
You got to come back to this show anytime in
the future. The door is always open. I love where
your heart is.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Well.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Thank you and I've loved of talking with you. Thank
you for having me so much.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Will you be brilliant today? Okay, I'm gonna try. Have fun.
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