Even with the success of RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul may have some surprising competition for the title of Drag Superstar from Bugs Bunny.
RuPaul is the undisputed "Queen of Drag." Even before the highly popular RuPaul's Drag Race, he found success with music, TV/film and radio hosting. As a queen of many trades, RuPaul's become the world's most famous drag queen -- and rightly so. However, the title isn't entirely his for the taking. RuPaul has some competition for drag superstar, and it isn't one of his Drag Race girls. Funny enough, Warner Bros. icon Bugs Bunny actually beat him to the punch.
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Everyone's favorite animated rabbit hopped onto the scene in the late 1930s. While he's best known for his appearances in Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny's first official film appearance is credited to 1940's A Wild Hare. Not long after, Bugs became America's first animated drag queen.
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Bugs Bunny is no stranger to dressing up. Through the years, Bugs has transformed into soldiers, police officers and gamblers to outsmart Elmer Fudd, Babyface Finster or whichever adversary attempts to take him down. While the aforementioned "disguises" usually see Bugs portraying a stereotypical masculine look, he frequently dresses as a woman without batting an eye. In drag, Bugs maintains the same level of confidence and poise he normally has. As such, the all-too-common, offensive "cross-dressing" jokes are absent. There is no big hurrah when Bugs makes the switch; he just does it. And it's this positive -- and effortless -- portrayal of drag that's made him something of an icon among both the drag and LGBTQ+ community.
RuPaul actually credits Bugs Bunny as his starting point for drag. When recounting his childhood in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, RuPaul said, "As a kid, I always dressed in everything. I would use all the tools available as a human to express myself. No sexual connotation to it. It was just stuff. Bugs Bunny was my first introduction to drag!"
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With positive portrayals of drag still highly underrepresented in film and television, it was only more limited in the 1940s. As such, Bugs' animated depiction of drag is surprising but welcome -- and certainly iconic. In 2020, the United States Postal Servicereleased a set of stamps celebrating Bugs Bunny's 80th anniversary, including two of the rabbit's drag characters.
Becoming the first animated drag queen in the 1940s is a huge milestone for Bugs, one that has slowly led to better representation in media for the community. With even RuPaul citing Bugs Bunny as inspiration, it's fair to offer him "condragulations" as a true drag superstar.
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