Legal threats, delays to RuPaul’s Drag Race for Aussie fans

 

Fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race have been subjected to legal notices from Foxtel after holding viewing parties using a VPN.

Foxtel says any delays to the airdate are due to the production company, World of Wonder.

Foxtel’s legal team sent Melbourne drag queen Karen From Finance an email demanding she shut down her viewing parties of the eighth season of the show.

“I started a screening party in my backyard in Carlton for season six [in 2014],” Karen told Daily Review. “I started it because amongst my circles, RuPaul’s Drag Race was very popular, but we all struggled to find streaming links each week to watch the show.”

Foxtel shut the party down in March this year, when it moved from her home to the Curtin Bandroom on Lygon Street, Carlton.

“Drag Race is so popular now that on the day of the screening, you cannot go anywhere near social media or you will have the results spoiled and ruined for you. Nobody waits to watch it on Foxtel” she suggested.

A Foxtel spokesperson said, “We have been told by our distributor (Passion Distribution) that the production company, World of Wonder, is extremely protective of RPDR and will not release materials until after its US telecast date.

“Plus, file transfer is out of the question, and episodes must be shipped on hard drive, (and Foxtel was told) ‘they are a small company with a tiny post-production department, they simply don’t have the machine, staff or bandwidth capacity to do it any other way’. The result of this is a delay between the US and Foxtel telecast.

“We understand the public’s frustrations, we love RuPaul too! We are continuing to work with the distributor to ensure a tighter turnaround on all episodes and will advise the Foxtel telecast date as quickly as we can.”

Karen said she would now focus her ‘line of attack’ on the Los Angeles based World of Wonder.

Source: Daily Revew, Star Observer