"Do you think I would have nearly won Eurovision with a dick on my head?"
Drag these days tends to fall into two categories, the fishy beauty pageant school of drag and the bearded, artsy, gender fuck-ery at the other end of the scale. Ukraine’s Verka Serduchka sits….actually we don’t really know where she sits on that scale. We need a new label!
We do know that she’s been performing for over 20 years, came 2nd in Eurovision in 2007 and has just made her first foray into film, making a cameo appearance in Spy with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham and also recording a single for the movie.
What is the attitude in Ukraine like to LGBT people? And you have worked in Russia a lot too. Have you experienced adversity there?
There were no LGBT-related problems I have faced, neither in Russia, nor in Ukraine.
What about people burning down the ‘Verka Serduchka’ dolls before you left to Eurovision? Weren’t they homophobic?
No, they were just idiots. Jealous idiots.
Russia nearly won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, where you performed in 2007. In the UK, the competition is known for its gay following. Is this the same in the Ukraine? Did the Ukraine want Russia to win, despite their views on LGBT?
Eurovision has a very broad popularity in Ukraine. You know it’s the same in the UK? UK TV audience share during finals reaches 50% and even more – are they all gay?
But I only realized Eurovision’s massive gay following when I appeared at Helsinki in 2007, it was really huge. I could not even walk on the street to buy pants for my mom, I was surrounded by the crowd the next moment.
Right now, homophobic relations are not the sharpest between Russia and Ukraine and I wish there were less politics in Eurovision Song Contest. It is too over politicized.
What would you call your type of drag? Why did you decide to go that route?
I think it is a new word in the world of drag. Let us name it together? Let’s announce the competition for the best name. (Loverboy: If you have a name for Verka’s type of drag tweet us @LoverboyMag)
It reminds us of Klaus Nomi a little. Who do you get compared to?
Thank you for your comparison, though I think I have as much common with him as much, for example, with Hitler. As I am on stage for so many years (around 20-25) I am not usually get compared to someone. It is usually someone is being compared to me. For example Lady Gaga. Though I think she is different.
Why do you wear a star on your head?
Why? What would you prefer I wear there? A dick? Do you think I would nearly win Eurovision with a dick on my head? I don’t think so… Or wait.. Would I?
Have any celebrities reacted weirdly to you when you met each other?
Not weirdly, in fact. But sometimes it is funny. Once Sonia Rykiel invited me and my mom for their fashion show in Paris, and it was really funny to watch celebrities looking at us (we were sitting in the first row, wearing Puma duffles with water melon shaped bags) with huge interest. Fun!
You’re now acting on the big screen. Which role would you most like to play and why?
Acting is a bit too much: it was a cameo. I would love to play myself in something like “VERKA SERDUCHKA saves the World.”
We have a total crush on Jason Statham. Is he as handsome in real life?
Oh we liked him so much! Hopefully it’s mutual, he was watching our shoot even though he wasn’t involved that day. And then one year later, at the SPY premiere in NYC we hugged as we were studying in the same class for 10 years in the school. Crush – is the good word.
What is your favourite Mariah Carey song and why?
‘All I Want For Xmas is You.’ Multiple times I was trying to play it to my Mom, but she is always falling asleep before chorus starts. So now I use it as a sleeping tool intentionally.
