Onya Nurve Sparks Backlash From Her Drag Race Sisters: ‘They Relate on Not Winning’

Onya Nurve is facing criticism from several queens from the show after a video went viral, seemingly suggesting that she doesn’t talk to anyone from the cast and that nobody really likes her.

via: Out

Drag Race season 17 winner Onya Nurve has riled up her castmates after claiming that she’s not “besties” with them because her winner status means they have nothing in common.

Onya got sassy about her fellow Drag Race season 17 stars on a new episode of the Minoritea Report podcast, but it wasn’t until after a clip from the show went viral that her casemates started clapping back.

“There’s only one winner, but there’s 13 people who didn’t win so there’s a lot more people to click up with because you guys have commonality,” Onya explained in the the now-viral video clip.

“No one has commonality with me and that’s no shade,” Onya said. “Like I came on the show to win, that’s what I did. I didn’t come here to make friends, so I’m not mad I don’t have besties after the show.”

Onya ended with a comment that drew surprised chuckles from hosts Kerel, Dawon, and Jarrell.

“They relate on not winning, I can’t,” she said with a hair flip.

Shortly after the clip started making the rounds on social media — the video has 1.7 million views at the time of publication — other queens came forward with their thoughts.

Fellow season 17 competitor Suzie Toot took the opportunity to shade Onya while also promoting her upcoming shows. “I have a show at the Pilgrim House in Provincetown running 8/23-9/3 and the other girls dont thats just something we cant relate on,” she wrote on Twitter.

Season 17 star Joella fired back at a fan who said the castmates were picking on Onya by pointing out that all of her fellow queens have “done nothing but support her throughout airing and post airing” and that any drama between them is because they were “making tv.”

“we all love our sister and wish her the best and miss her very much,” she wrote.

Runner-up Jewels Sparkles simply wrote “this” on a repost where she said, “sometimes you have to be fierce in silence…”

Sapphira Cristál, who competed in season 16, posted that the queens on her season don’t “have any sort of beef” and jokingly asked, “Who feels like starting something??”

Onya quickly fired back after her quote sparked backlash. “Y’all do too much every time,” she wrote. “There is literally no beef, or anything! I’m just a black BAD bitch, speaking her truth and popping her shit! If you don’t like it, move the fuck around.”

While many of the queens clapped back or made light of the situation, her co-star Lucky Starzzz posted a kind message explaining that she respects Onya’s “story, her traumas, her journey” and wants to give her “some grace.”

She wrote in part, “As someone who doesn’t truly connect to anyone it can feel lonely and I love my sister, just know I am here for you in your loneliness because I am understand how that can feel.”

But it was Canada's Drag Race season 1 winner Priyanka who set her off by reposting Onya's comment and asking, "u ok?" Onya took the comment as the shade it was likely meant to be and quickly shot back with a few tweets and comments.

"Never thought you would’ve been one of the weirdos, but here we are. I’m fine sis. I hope you’re doing well too," Onya commented.

Next, she accused Priyanka of "reposting shit from another brown girl for clout" and pretending not to know who her fellow queen is when she asked, "what franchise of drag race this buffoon was on?"

Who needs reality TV when you have the drama of watching the queens interact on social media?

*****

Let’s Be Honest.

It’s unfair to reduce Onya Nurve to being “mean” or “nasty” without considering what she has faced since her win.

For over a year, fans have questioned her crown, insisted Jewels Sparkles should have won, and judged situations like the Kinky Boots controversy without knowing the full context. She has also faced criticism from within her own circle, including podcast comments suggesting she is irrelevant or hasn’t done enough with her crown, sometimes from people she has continued to support. Anyone in that position might begin questioning who truly has their back.

This also raises a broader concern: Black queens often seem to face harsher scrutiny than other winners who have been quieter or taken different paths after their seasons. We should be willing to examine how racial bias operates within queer spaces, including spaces meant to feel safe and accepting. Marginalized people can still unintentionally reproduce the biases they experience.

With entire social media pages dedicated to attacking Onya like the screenshot attached, it’s understandable that she may feel defensive or reach a breaking point. That doesn’t make every reaction beyond criticism, but it does call for empathy before judgment.

We can hold people accountable while still considering what they’re carrying. Instead of immediately attacking one another, we should reflect on our own biases and whether we offer others the same grace we expect for ourselves.

Why can’t we choose more understanding, love, and respect?