The long-standing feud between RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Derrick Barry and India Ferrah was brought to light once again. The two queens were cast on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 and made mention of fights and accusations that took place in Las Vegas over many years. India Ferrah was a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 3, which aired in 2011. After a lukewarm performance on the season’s fitness video maxi challenge (episode 4), India was sent to the bottom with Mimi Imfurst. During the lip sync, Mimi picked India up and carried the queen on her shoulders. In the end, RuPaul announced that “drag is not a contact sport” and eliminated Mimi from the competition. India was sent home in the following episode.

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When Derrick Barry was cast on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8, he was already a well-known Britney Spears impersonator in Las Vegas, and even made it onto the quarter-finals of America’s Got Talent season 3. During his appearance on season 8, fans discovered that Derrick has two boyfriends: visual artist Nick San Pedro and drag performer Mackenzie Claude, who was one of the men featured on the makeover challenge from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5. On that season, Alaska turned Mackenzie into her drag sister, Nebraska. After the show, Mackenzie decided to dedicate his full attention to the Nebraska character and pursue a career in drag. The feud between India Ferrah and Derrick Barry has a lot to do with Nebraska. However, in order to fully understand their ongoing Las Vegas rivalry, one must first go back to a statement made by India Ferrah after her time on season 3.

India Ferrah Criticizes RuPaul’s Drag Race In 2012

In a since-deleted Facebook post from 2012, India Ferrah shared her experience filming the show and expressed disappointment in the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise. India wrote, “The creators, producers, and writers have no clue what drag or the art form is actually about. This show gives not only the drag community, but also the gay community, a bad name.” India then claimed that other season 3 contestants had been doing drugs while filming, but that she didn’t have to succumb to peer pressures in order to win what she called “a fake TV show” that “brought drag down.” In the same statement, India implied that it was her time to quit drag.

However, India Ferrah’s stint quitting drag didn’t last long. In fact, the queen was back working as a drag entertainer later that year. With such a long drag career to back her up, India was eventually chosen as the official host for drag nights at the Piranha Nightclub, which was deemed the largest and longest-running Las Vegas nightclub at the time. It is during those years at Piranha that Derrick Barry and Nebraska enter the picture.

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Piranha Nightclub Replaces India Ferrah With Nebraska

Derrick Barry competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8, which aired in 2016. The show not only propelled Derrick’s career to new heights, but it also brought to light the fact that Nebraska, Derrick’s boyfriend, was a full-time drag queen. This meant that the drag scene in Las Vegas now had two new major contenders to compete for bookings. Then, after many years working as a host at the Piranha Nightclub in Las Vegas, India Ferrah was suddenly fired sometime in 2017. In December 2017, the establishment announced that it had picked a new host: Nebraska.

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Piranha Nightclub has made me the new host & face of their Tuesday nights! They are the largest and longest running nightclub in Las Vegas! Sound off below and let Piranha know how happy you are that they are giving me a weekly home in Sin City! 💋 @piranhavegas

A post shared by Nebraska / Mackenzie Claude (@nebraskathunderfuck) on

Piranha’s decision to hire Nebraska divided the drag community and infuriated India Ferrah, who shared her anger in a series of Facebook posts that were screenshot and tweeted out by Nebraska. In the posts, India alleged that out-of-drag Nebraska had previously gotten fired at Piranha Nightclub for embezzling money. In response, Nebraska claimed that India had invited fans to slander her. Days later, India called Nebraska “a piece of trash” and alleged that her first performance at Piranha had not been any good.

Derrick Barry and India Ferrah Are Cast On All Stars 5

The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 was asked to conduct a series of interviews to promote the show. In one particular interview with The X Change Rate, Monet X Change asked interviewees Derrick Barry, Jujubee, and Mayhem Miller if they had been surprised to see any of the queens in the cast. Derrick was quick to mention India Ferrah, citing the queen’s statement from 2012 that criticized the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise and its production team. Derrick then said, “To see that her drag hadn’t changed was shocking. To be in the presence of her, in front of [those] who I believe are All Stars, was shocking.”

Before the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5 premiere aired, India Ferrah shared a lengthy letter with her fans that provided some context regarding her behavior from 2012. India wrote that she had been angry about “Having the fans and patrons literally push [her] out of the way to get to the other girls because they had no clue who [India] was.” India then stated that she had been waiting to compete on All Stars for many years, claiming that she now understood that the Drag Race franchise was about celebrating different types of drag aesthetics.

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In the first episode of All Stars 5, the feud between Derrick and India became immediately clear to the other queens, who instigated the rivals to hash things out on the show. India referred to being replaced by Nebraska at the Piranha Nightclub, but Derrick argued that the venue had to hire someone else after firing the former host. Then, Derrick accused India of calling Nebraska “a pig in a wig,” but India claims that the statement had nothing to do with Nebraska. As the episode went on, India Ferrah ended up winning the maxi challenge, and Derrick Barry was sent home.

Following the contentious All Stars 5 premiere, Nebraska tweeted out one of Derrick Barry’s quotes from the episode: “I don’t f**k with two-faced people.” Then, the discourse took an unexpected turn when RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 contestant Dahlia Sin said in a tweet, “I could say A LOT right now… but karma is a b***h.” A day later, Nebraska responded with “Karma’s a broccoli,” making a clear reference to the character that Dahlia had played in the episode where she was eliminated from season 12.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 5airs Fridays at 8pm EST on VH1.

Sources: India Ferrah, Nebraska, @MackenzieClaude, @IndiaFerrah, Dahlia Sin

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Bernardo Sim
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Bernardo Sim writes about TV shows, queer culture, & Brazilian media. Born and raised in the Amazon, he now lives in South Florida. he/him

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