Mami Watta On Winning ‘Drag Race France All Stars’ And ‘Drag Race’ Coming To Africa

Mami Watta is now the queen of queens in the Drag Race France pantheon.

The Season 2 Drag Race France finalist is the winning queen of Drag Race France All Stars, beating out several fan favorites for the coveted title. Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum spoke with Mami Watta about the win as well as how she brought her Côte d’Ivoire culture and Afro-futurism into her drag.

 ”I felt like I had a lot to prove, like look-wise, ’cause like I consider myself to be like a fashion queen, but I don’t show it on my original season,” she said, describing how she approached the All Stars season. “So I was like, ‘This time I really wanna show the looks. I wanna show how good I can look and I still wanna show my culture in it and make my culture look good.’ So I definitely wanted to to come back and have looks.”

“ I always want to share my cultures [in] my drag,” she continued. “When I first started, I was just like a girl in the bikini, but then I was like, ‘Oh, I have so much more to do than just being a girl in the [bikini].’ …At the end of the day, I have so much more culture behind me, so I have to show it. So the most important thing for me to show the culture, and I was so, so happy to be able to do it so beautifully this season, and that is actually my proudest thing about this season. I’m so, so happy to have done that.”

Mami Watta is proud to showcase her African heritage in her drag, but she opened up about how the LGBTQ+ community still has an uphill battle when it comes to being protected.

“ I think the fight is still going, ’cause when, when I left [Côte d’Ivoire], I was already like an adult. I was already gay, I was already doing my thing and it’s not illegal to be gay,” she said.

However, because there are no laws on the books, that also means there’s no protection, which opens gay people up to harassment.

“We’re inspiring them people to come out. ’cause if nobody comes out, nobody’s gonna fight. Nobody’s gonna have the rights,” she said. “So we actually have to go through this period, we actually have to go through the showing who we are so that people can get who we are. …We’re just people. So I want to take them to take us as people.”

Something that could help change the tide on the African continent is Drag Race South Africa, which has started casting for its premiere season.

“South Africa has always been a leader in Africa in some advancement and progress, so I’m not surprised that it happened there,” Mami Watta said. “I’m gonna watch, I’m gonna tune in. I hope I’m gonna see a lot of Black girlies, no shade!”

As for whether she’s going to come back to television for another Drag Race season, Mami Watta said she’s open to any possibilities, including an All Winners addition of RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars.

She also expressed interest in competing against her Season 2 sister Keiona, who won that season. She said she’d love to go up against her, event though Keiona has expressed interest in not returning.

“Maybe – I love TV. I’m going back [if they call me],” she said. “Like, maybe, maybe in a year or two. But if they call me, I am going.”

Drag Race France All Stars is now streaming on WOW Presents Plus.