It seems like the queen of drag herself, the one, the only, RuPaul might be in a bit of a pickle, a dilemma might we say: a controversy. You would think the creator, the face of a new project or store, would have all the details on the product they’re bringing out to the public. Well, this most definitely must have not been the case with RuPaul’s most recent bookstore, and he made some very questionable decisions, to say the least.
On March 4, RuPaul announced the launch of newly co-founded online bookstore: Allstora. Said bookstore was supposed to be an “all-inclusive world of book lovers.” And although the selection of books is very wide, it was a little bit too out there, as quantity really beat quality, simply because out of the 10 million books in the catalog, there’s a good chunk of books that might I assume RuPaul himself wouldn’t even approve of. That chunk consists of books with heavy right-wing rhetoric, anti-and LGBTQ+ messages, and there are even copies of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Yes, you heard that right: Hitler!
Of course, with this sort of selection came a lot of justified criticism. Any and everyone, especially someone who is considered such an icon in the LGBTQ+ community, isn’t immune to a call-out when promoting bigotry, even if it was accidental. Because let’s be honest; this’t a spilled glass of milk. It’s more like carelessly dropping a lit cigarette in a puddle of gasoline. Lady Bunny was someone quick to call Rupual out calling Allstora “rainbow capitalism.” The identity and sexuality of people in the community are being used as marketing tactics, and not just by big companies who put a Pride flag up in June just to seem inclusive. It’s literally happening from inside the community now.
Although the CEO of Allstora came out with an apology, this wasn’t accidental. The selection includes such things for the sake of “radical inclusivity.” Cervani states this as their way of “championing underserved authors and create community around their stories.” Personally, I don’t see how this in any way justifies having Hitler in the selection, but their solution is first: a flagging system in store so you could avoid such titles and second, the proceeds from said flagged books will go to Rainbow Book Bus.
Photo courtesy of social media
