Drag Race UK star defends iconic The Substance Halloween look

Halloween, aka Gay Christmas, is finally upon us – but among the jockstraps and wrestling singlets, Drag Race UK star Sminty Drop has been forced to clap back at fans criticising her ‘c*nty’ rendition of Monstro Elisasue from The Substance.

There’s a lot going on there, so let’s unpack.

To start off with, Halloween has in recent years been swamped by a meme format that goes like this: ‘I hate Gay Halloween, what do you mean you’re BLANK,’ with the BLANK replaced by increasingly obscure costumes, pop culture references and celebrity moments.

The other key component to the story is the recent release of instant body horror smash The Substance, in which Demi Moore stars as a fading, aging celebrity who uses a mysterious, well, substance to transform into a younger version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley). At the film’s climax, the pair fuse into a grotesque amalgamation called ‘Monstro Elisasue’.

Bringing the two parts of the above puzzle together is Drag Race UK‘s Sminty Drop. The diva, who placed 9th on season four of the spinoff, took to X on 27 October to post several pictures of herself a yassified version of the The Substance character, writing: “I hate gay halloween costumes cos what do you mean you’re c*nty Monstro Elisasue.”

I hate gay halloween costumes cos what do you mean you’re cunty Monstro Elizasue pic.twitter.com/lMQ7ndUoB4

— SMINTY (@smintyd) October 27, 2024

For anyone in avoidance of doubt, she ate; but severals fans have taken issue with the instant gay Halloween classic, insinuating that Sminty had missed the point of the film.

“Just took the deepest sigh to ever sigh…” wrote one account, with another adding, “I love that making this c*nty completely and deliberately misses the point of the film, THAT’S camp lol.”

Sminty has since clapped back at those criticising the costume, reminding everyone that it really isn’t that deep.

“‘Fully missed the point of the movie :///’ IT WAS A BIT OF A LAUGH DANIELLE ITS TONGUE IN CHEEK,” she wrote, referencing the one and only Gemma Collins, before adding, “Like omg what happened to FUN.”