“RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Beneath ”season 1 queen Maxi Protect dies at 51

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under season 1 queen, actor, and activist Maxi Protect has died at age 51, Leisure Weekly has confirmed.

A supply near the state of affairs confirmed the information to EW after a Monday morning social media put up by Common Sydney, one of many Australian metropolis's premier LGBT nightlife venues the place Maxi recurrently labored, introduced that it was "shocked and deeply saddened by the information of our beloved Maxi Protect's passing."

A reason for loss of life was not reported within the put up, made by the venue's licensee, Dillon Shaw, although Maxi introduced final September that she'd been identified with throat most cancers.

Shaw added that "there has by no means been a time I can bear in mind when Maxi wasn't an iconic presence" on the native scene, and that her work included greater than performing, but in addition "touching hearts not solely throughout the nation however all over the world by means of her look on Drag Race Down Beneath" in 2021.
"Maxi was an enormous persona with a coronary heart of gold. I’m heartbroken that the world received’t get to see this legend gentle up a stage once more, and that I received’t get to share one other giggle over lunch with my pal," Shaw continued. "Her love, her humour, and her affect reside on by means of the unimaginable Sydney expertise she straight influenced, and thru the scene she helped form with such ardour. She was a pressure. She was sensible. And I’ll miss my pal dearly."

Drag Race Down Beneath head decide Michelle Visage (who took over for RuPaul after season 3 in 2024) additionally paid tribute to Maxi on-line, writing, "I liked this queen. A wonderful human on the inside and outside. Your love, coronary heart, expertise and vitality shall be missed…. @maxishield relaxation in energy, my angel, you had been actually certainly one of a form."

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After taking a break from the drag scene, Maxi reportedly carried out her first public drag gig in months in early February.

EW has reached out to representatives for Common Sydney and Drag Race Down Beneath manufacturing firm World of Surprise for extra data.

Fellow Drag Race Down Beneath alum Kween Kong replied underneath the put up with a message as properly, writing "RIP AUNTY" alongside a pair of crying emojis, whereas Down Beneath season 2 winner Spankie Jackzon additionally commented with a sequence of emotional emojis underneath the message.

Cynthia Lee Fontaine, acancer survivor and RuPaul's Drag Race icon who competed on three totally different seasons of the American version of the present, additionally paid tribute Maxi on social media.

The All Stars 10 queen recalled in her put up assembly Maxi on the DragCon occasion in 2022, the place she stated Maxi supplied steady help amid Cynthia's well being struggles with hip substitute surgical procedure.

"After, [there] was not a single day you always remember to message me and hold me motivated with humorous tales and movies on my DM’s," Cynthia wrote. "Then final 12 months it was my flip to help you . However now my Stunning sister , you aren’t in ache anymore… I’ll at all times love you and for me you’re a warrior!!! Please be a part of Our sisters … Shante you keep in my coronary heart for ever."

Along with her run on Drag Race Down Beneath season 1, on which she completed in sixth place, Maxi appeared because the lead character within the 2023 comedy movie The Winner Takes It All.

Sheand Drag Race Down Beneath runner-up Hannah Conda additionally tried to set a world file in 2020, as they each led the cost to destigmatize drag artistry by main what they hoped would develop into "the most important Drag Queen Story Time occasion" in historical past, per native information.

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