Reneé Rapp has never pretended be demure, but her recentappearance on Ziwe proves she is not one to beat around the bush.
The singer and Mean Girls actress sat down for a rapid-fire interview filled with queer-coded chaos. The host said she was “sort of unhinged” and asked if she had any media training to prepare for her next press tour, and Rapp admitted that “people have tried” but it “didn’t really stick.” She also noted that she’s cycled through a number of publicists because of it.
Perhaps because of her lack of media training, it was her blunt comments about white gays that hit hardest, especially because she included herself in the callout. And just when we thought we couldn't love her more.
Six minutes in, when asked if she cared less about gay rights or women’s rights, Rapp immediately said gay rights, explaining, “The more gay you are, the more homophobic you become.”
When Ziwe asked what exactly makes being gay homophobic, Rapp replied, without hesitation, “People like me. White gays. We’re ruining everything.”
She further doubled down when asked to define a white gay by calling them “insufferable” and “entitled,” ending it with a simple read stating, “Myself.”
The segment struck a nerve not just for its memeable energy, though there was plenty of that, but because Rapp managed to articulate a cultural dynamic with disarming ease. In a queer landscape where white LGBTQ+ folks often dominate the narrative, Rapp’s self-aware humor landed like a wink and a gut punch at once.
To be clear, the rest of the interview was still classic Ziwe territory. Rapp gleefully chanted “dyke” on a three-count, demonstrated “lgbt gang signs,” and declared she was “pro-violence” when it came to white women misbehaving in grocery stores. But the moment she admitted her own audience is largely made up of “white gays and a ferocious bunch of Black and brown girls who are willing to say, ‘shut the fuck up,’”—and that she loves watching that beef unfold online—the interview went from unfiltered to unmistakably sharp.
It’s not easy to roast your core demographic without coming off ungrateful or out of touch. But Rapp pulls it off because she knows exactly who she is and why people are watching. She's not apologizing. She’s just making sure everyone else in the room can take a joke, too.
Check out the full interview below:
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