RuPaul's Drag Race's Kelly Mantle will be the first potential Oscar nominee eligible for male and female awards
LatestGenderfluid performer Kelly Mantle, best known for appearing on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, is making Oscar history this year. Mantle, who uses male pronouns, will be the first person eligible to be nominated in both male and female categories.
Mantle plays a trans character in Confessions of a Womanizer, a movie that stars Gary Busey and C. Thomas Howell and will never, ever win an Oscar—per the Los Angeles Times, “the script mostly consists of juvenile euphemisms for genitalia.” According to The Wrap, the producers decided to fill out Oscar paperwork regardless, and “Mantle was submitted for consideration in both categories, and the Academy confirmed that the performer can be nominated in either one.”
Should he be nominated, he would be the first openly genderfluid or non-binary conforming person to be nominated for an Oscar.
Sam Stecklow is the Weekend Editor for Fusion.