Drag Race Season 12 judges revealed: Nicki Minaj, Whoopi Goldberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and more

Emmy® award-winning host RuPaul will be joined by an epic line-up of celebrities to help show regulars Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley and Ross Mathews as they decide who will stay, lip-sync for their life or “sashay away” in the new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” premiering Friday, February 28^th at 8:00 PM ET/PT on VH1.  Be there to witness the first group of queens as they join the ruvolution and kick off an electrifying premiere that will air over two consecutive Friday nights. Each episode will give the audience a more intimate look at the new queens as they pledge their allegiance to the drag.

This season’s guest judges consist of film, music, television, fashion and political icons including Nicki Minaj, Whoopi Goldberg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chaka Khan, Robyn, Leslie Jones, Normani, Jeff Goldblum, Daisy Ridley, Thandie Newton, Olivia Munn, Rachel Bloom, Daniel Franzese, Jonathan Bennett and Winnie Harlow. 

The thirteen competing queens will give their all to impress the judges as they vie for the ultimate title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and a grand prize of $100,000. Previously announced queens include Aiden Zhane (Acworth, GA), Brita (New York, NY), Crystal Methyd (Springfield, MO), Dahlia Sin (Los Angeles, CA), Gigi Goode (Los Angeles, CA), Heidi N Closet (Ramseur, NC), Jackie Cox (New York, NY), Jaida Essence Hall (Milwaukee, WI), Jan (New York, NY), Nicky Doll (New York, NY), Rock M. Sakura (San Francisco, CA), Sherry Pie (New York, NY),and Widow Von’Du (Kansas City, MO).

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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