Viral Vera

By Ofentse Mokoka asst. copy editor

The Pride Union drag show preliminaries were the first time Austin Rose showcased their Disney villain-inspired drag live. But Rose had been performing drag since their freshman year, posting their performances on TikTok.

Rose already had an interest in drag, but when they started their freshman year in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic they found themselves stuck at home. After fi nally getting everything together to perform in full drag for the first time, they turned to the app.

“I put myself in drag for the first time and I had nowhere to go with it,” Rose said. “I was just in my house and so I put myself in drag and I fi lmed a TikTok and thought nothing of it.”

His videos would end up going viral. One video currently has over a million views and over 300,000 likes. Following the popularity of the video, he continued to post videos of their drag persona Vera Kewl doing parodies, covers and more open verse challenges. They have amassed a large following on TikTok with over 50,000 followers.

Rose performed at the 21st annual Pride Union Drag show on March 23 in the Schine Student Center Underground. The event was hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vixen and welcomed all student drag performers of varying experience.

Before drag, Rose had always taken inspiration from their sister, playing the same sports and start see performer page 8