Entertainment
Drag Race UK: Joe Black ‘overwhelmed’ as H&M sends Valentine’s Day gifts after iconic dress moment
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Joe Black has admitted he felt ‘overwhelmed’ when he received a bundle of Valentine’s Day gifts from H&M after RuPaul ranted about his disdain for a dress from the high street store.
On Thursday evening, Joe was eliminated from Drag Race UK for a second time, having made a comeback after initially being told to ‘sashay away’ by head judge RuPaul in the first episode.
Joe took the place of Veronica Green, who was forced to leave the competition after testing positive for coronavirus before filming resumed after a seven-month break last year.
After taking part in a Eurovision-themed group challenge, Joe admitted to the judges that he wore a pink velvet dress from H&M for the performance, outraging RuPaul who said: ‘I don’t want to see any f**king H&M.’
Ru’s response to the garment has since received the meme treatment, with Drag Race fans across the world discussing the iconic moment widely on social media.
This caught the attention of H&M, who decided to spread some love to Joe on Valentine’s Day with a delivery of a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a fabulous, personalised cake.
The icing caption on the cake reads: ‘Roses are red, violets are blue, we loved your fit, don’t listen to Ru! Love H&M.’
Sharing several photographs of the delivery on social media, Joe wrote: ‘Yes @hm – I will be your Valentine!
‘Thank you for the beautiful cake and roses. When this appeared at my door I… yeah. Overwhelmed. Gorgeous.’
Several Twitter users commented on the post with messages of support for Joe and appreciation for the gift.
‘That’s hilarious and lovely in equal measures,’ one fan said.
‘This is what you deserve,’ another remarked.
After the most recent episode of Drag Race UK aired, Brighton-based performer Joe admitted that he had no idea his garment would be the cause of ‘such drama’.
‘I’d wear that H&M dress again in a heartbeat. I thought it was cute,’ he said.
‘Clearly it’s an emotional piece! Very moving. I didn’t realise pink velvet could evoke such drama!’
While speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press, Joe recalled a hilarious DM he shared with judge Michelle Visage about the controversy, after she appeared to wear H&M earrings in a picture shared on social media.
Describing Michelle as ‘an absolute gem’, Joe said: ‘Just before I watched the episode I spoke briefly to Michelle, because she had put up a picture from a look from [Drag Race US] season 13 and she had credited the earrings as being from H&M.
‘I replied to Michelle and I said, “They’re from f**king where?!”’
Joe added that Michelle later corrected the credit for the earrings, as it turned out they weren’t actually from the high street store.
‘But I was ready to go tell her what I think,’ he added jokingly.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK returns next Thursday at 7pm on BBC iPlayer.
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