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RuPaul Charles has paid tribute to resistance queen The Vivienne, hailing their passionateness for "love and life" astatine the opening of RuPaul's DragCon UK lawsuit successful eastbound London.
The decease of James Lee Williams, whose resistance sanction was The Vivienne, was announced past weekend.
The 32-year-old prima won the archetypal UK bid of RuPaul's Drag Race successful 2019 and came 3rd connected the 2023 variation of Dancing On Ice.
Drag queen and TV presenter RuPaul, who hosts the UK, American and Australian versions of the fashionable world competition, told the assemblage astatine the Excel successful London connected Friday that helium was "here to observe life, to observe love".
He added: "We are present to commencement these festivities, but earlier we bash that, we privation to absorption connected love, and we're going to retrieve our beloved The Vivienne, with love, life, and that's what she was each about.
"She would emotion for you to unrecorded your lives and to beryllium escaped and to person a batch of amusive and to dispersed it around, isn't that right?"
The DragCon event, which bills itself arsenic the largest gathering of Drag Race queens and fans successful the world, is simply a two-day normal astatine the Excel successful the UK capital, finishing connected Saturday.
Michelle Visage, a RuPaul's Drag Race judge, wore a achromatic T-shirt with The Vivienne's sanction connected it portion appearing alongside RuPaul astatine the event's launch.
RuPaul antecedently said connected Instagram that his bosom was "broken" aft the quality of the tragedy, and that helium was "mourning the nonaccomplishment of The Vivienne - an incredibly talented queen and a beauteous quality being," portion Visage called them "a beacon to truthful many".
A memorial partition and publication were enactment up for fans and performers astatine the lawsuit to constitute messages remembering the precocious performer.
The written posts included RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestants Charity Kase and Alexis Saint-Pete.
English performer Kase wrote: "The satellite was amended with you successful it."
Polish resistance queen Saint-Pete wrote: "We emotion you truthful overmuch and miss you adjacent more."
Read more:
The Vivienne's emergence arsenic a resistance 'trailblazer'
The Vivienne roseate to prominence successful 2015 aft becoming the UK Drag Ambassador for the American bid of RuPaul's Drag Race.
After winning the UK mentation of the show, they competed connected an all-winners play of the RuPaul franchise successful the US successful 2022, starred successful BBC Three amusement The Vivienne Takes On Hollywood successful 2020, and was connected Channel 4's Celebrity Hunted for Stand Up To Cancer successful 2022.
The daze quality of their decease prompted an outpouring of tributes from celebrities and colleagues including ex-EastEnders prima Patsy Palmer, Coronation Street histrion Antony Cotton, Strictly Come Dancing justice Craig Revel Horwood, and erstwhile Strictly pro dancer and Dancing On Ice justice Oti Mabuse.
Williams, who was calved successful Wales and aboriginal moved to Liverpool, performed arsenic the Wicked Witch of the West successful a UK and Ireland circuit of The Wizard Of Oz philharmonic and reprised the relation successful the West End past year.
They were owed to beryllium backmost connected circuit adjacent period performing successful the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang philharmonic successful the relation of the Childcatcher.
Cheshire Police confirmed they had been called to a location successful Chorlton-by-Backford, adjacent Chester, astatine 12.22pm connected Sunday pursuing reports of a abrupt death.
They said determination were "no suspicious circumstances," and said a record is being "prepared for the coroner".
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