Halal Bae

Halal Bae
Halal Bae
Born	Alexandria, Egypt[1]
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Drag queen
Television	Canada's Drag Race (season 3)

Halal Bae is an Egyptian-born Canadian drag performer from Toronto, Ontario who competed on season 3 of Canada's Drag Race.[2]

Early life

Halal Bae was born in Egypt and is of Egyptian-Palestinian ancestry. She was raised by a Muslim family in the Middle East, before immigrating to Canada at the age of 18.[3]

Career

Halal Bae is a drag performer. She gained prominence in Toronto, and was named the city's best drag performer by NOW Magazine in 2020. She competed on the third season of Canada's Drag Race, becoming the first North African performer on the franchise.[4] Halal Bae was also the first contestant to have a mustache, which Screen Rant said "[expanded] the idea of what it means to be a drag performer and how drag queens must look to be considered valid".[5] Tobin Ng of Broadview said Halal Bae received praise on social media "for bringing Muslim and Middle Eastern representation to the show",[3] and Michel Cook of Instinct magazine wrote, "Not only did they help shatter stereotypes as to what a queer Muslim person truly is, Bae is the first North African person to hit the Drag Race competition."[6]

Personal life

Halal Bae is queer and based in Toronto.[3] CBC News has described her as an "Arab Muslim activist queen".[7] Halal Bae likes to focus on social work, community building,[8] and has said: "For me, drag is used as a political tool, as a means of expressing my artistic practice, of community-building."[9]

According to The New Arab, she is "a staunch supporter of a free Palestine".[10]

Halal Bae uses the pronouns she/her in drag and he/they out of drag.[11]

References

1. "Halal Bae: Queen of Outsiders". mojotoronto.ca. Mojo Toronto. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
2. "Canada's Drag Race season 3 cast sash-ehs this way: Meet the queens!". Yahoo Entertainment. 2022-06-15. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
3. Ng, Tobin (2022-08-30). "Halal Bae wants to shift perceptions of what drag can be". Broadview Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-02-10. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
4. "Halal Bae & Miss Moco On Their 'Canada's Drag Race' Journeys". Instinct Magazine. 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
5. Szelinski, Cailyn (2022-06-29). "Canada's Drag Race: Where To Find The Season 3 Queens on Social Media". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
6. "Halal Bae & Miss Moco On Their 'Canada's Drag Race' Journeys". Instinct Magazine. 2022-07-29. Archived from the original on 2023-03-24. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
7. "RuPaul took drag mainstream. Now this Toronto drag queen says it's time to diversify the look". CBC. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
8. "Halal Bae: Queen of Outsiders". 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
9. Ng, Tobin (2022-08-30). "Halal Bae wants to shift perceptions of what drag can be". Broadview Magazine. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
10. "Halal Bae 'shockingly' eliminated from Canada's Drag Race". The New Arab. 2022-07-15. Archived from the original on 2023-10-16. Retrieved 2023-10-16.
11. "Canada's Drag Race season 3 cast sash-ehs this way: Meet the queens!". Yahoo News. 2022-06-15. Archived from the original on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2023-10-16.