H eadlines
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Features ‘Jewish Princess’
NATIONAL SHANNON LEVITT | JE FEATURE
IT WASN’T SUPPOSED to go
that way.

Joey Jay, the 30-year-old
Phoenix-area contestant on
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season
13, unexpectedly found himself
on the chopping block in the
opening moments of the show.

Previous seasons began with
introductions, funny interludes
between contestants, a challenge
and a runway walk. Only then
came elimination. But on Jan.

1, Jay and fellow contestant
Kandy Muse barely had time
for introductions when RuPaul
appeared, saying they would
lip-sync before the judges and
the loser would be eliminated.

“RuPaul is right there and
then you’re lip-syncing for your
life,” said Jay, who describes
his drag persona as a “Jewish
princess.” “It was the scariest
moment of my life.”
Later, in the show’s
individual confessional, Jay
laughed about possible “plot
twists,” though as of press time
it was unclear how the drama
would play out. But Jay’s recent
tweet, “S13 is basically just gay
Saw,” seems ominous.

Joey Jay out of and in drag.
“It was so much and all of us
were so taken by it, but tomor-
row’s a new day,” he explained.

“This is going to be lovely TV.”
Season 13 had other
surprises thanks to COVID-19
— including the show’s 12-day
quarantine. “Twelve days of self-isola-
tion in a hotel room, you kind
of go a little crazy,” Jay said.

Jay’s drag career began
just four years ago — and as a
part-time gig at that. By day, he
Photo courtesy of Joey Jay
worked as an account manager
at an educational software
company in Mesa, Arizona. He
only did drag on Friday nights
because of his work schedule.

“I really value and cherish
sleep,” he said. “It was just really
hard to function efficiently
when the next day I had to sell.”
But the job was always a
means to an end — to save money
for a condo and mark time while
building a drag career.

He started auditioning for
Fol low The
And Never Miss A Stor y!
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“RuPaul’s Drag Race” just a
month after starting drag.

“Let me tell you, the audition
process is very lengthy and it takes
a lot of time and long days — very
stressful, long days,” Jay said.

His first two attempts
weren’t successful, and he
hopes no one ever sees his first
audition tape: “If it surfaces, it’s
not good,” he said jokingly.

But the third time was the
charm. Winning a coveted
place on the show so quickly
isn’t the only unique thing
about Jay’s drag career. For one,
his drag name is rather low-key.

Born Joey Jadryev, he didn’t
feel a more flamboyant name
would suit him. For another,
Jay usually sports his own short
hair rather than an elaborate
wig, which is more the norm in
the drag community.

His “boy hair” has drawn
ire from other drag queens, but
it’s something he feels strongly
about — and a topic he was
planning to address on the show
after his runway appearance.

But he wasn’t expecting to be in
front of the judges right away.

Depending on how things play
out, he realizes “my plan could
definitely go down the drain.”
Talking honestly and
publicly about things that
matter comes naturally to Jay:
His social media accounts are
full of support for causes like
Black Lives Matter.

“When you get in drag you
are a political statement — you’re
not just in drag to put a wig
on,” he said. “It’s your duty to
educate people about Stonewall
and Marsha P. Johnson.”
Given that many of the
show’s fans are young and
impressionable, Jay said he
feels a responsibility to provide
a perspective they might not
otherwise get.

“Who knows what their
parents are telling them or
what their parents stand for,
but I know equality is right,” he
said. “I’m a humanitarian and
it’s just so important for these
kids to know what’s right and
wrong.” People in the Phoenix area
are proud of Jay’s success.

“I’ve been watching ‘Drag
Race’ for years,” said Deb
Behrendt, one of the chairs of AZ
Jews for Pride. “I am proud that
Joey Jay hails from Phoenix and
is Jewish. I just feel like a proud
mom watching Joey Jay slay!”
Behrendt’s co-chair, Cantor
Ross Wolman of Temple Chai,
appreciates that Jay has chosen
to highlight Jewish identity.

That identity is very
important to Jay, whose family in
Los Angeles is “very Jewish,” he
said. “Whenever I go visit them,
we’re just throwing Yiddish
at each other all day long and
laughing and it’s so fun.” Jay
was very close to his late grand-
mother, an Orthodox Jew, and
attended virtual services at his
mother’s synagogue for the High
Holidays last year. “It’s really nice
because a lot of people have their
preferred pronouns and it’s very
LGBT-friendly,” he said.

One regret, however, is
missing out on a bar mitzvah.

Growing up, Jay was a compet-
itive figure skater and the
family couldn’t afford both
ice skating and a bar mitzvah.

Jay’s grandmother advised that
a bar mitzvah could be put off,
but there was an expiration
date on ice skating.

Even though Jay is “more
lax” religiously than his grand-
mother, missing out on a bar
mitzvah still rankles.

“To this day, I have not had a
chance to get my bar mitzvah,”
he said. “But it’s on my bucket
list because I know if I don’t
I’m going to have guilt for all
eternity for my grandmother.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs
Fridays at 8 p.m. on The CW
Network, MTV, MTV2, PopTV
and Logo. l
Shannon Levitt is the managing
editor of Jewish News in Phoenix,
an affiliated publication of the
Jewish Exponent.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



H eadlines
Fish Continued from Page 5
Interior of
Biederman’s Specialty Foods
Courtesy of
Lauren Biederman
Biederman has crowd-
sourced ideas from the Bella
Vista Neighbors Association,
asking members about their
favorite kinds of fish and
what they would like to see
in stock. Biederman’s has sold
takeout brunch boards with
bagels, cream cheese, smoked
fish, olives and pastries to test
the waters before the official
opening on Jan. 15.

“Those are very helpful, to
have input,” she said.

Although not all of the
items at Biederman’s will be
kosher, there will be plenty of
kosher options, and the dietary
status of all items will be clearly
marked. “All of the fish that comes
from Samaki is going to be
kosher certified. We will not
have any meat in-house ever,”
she said. “We are getting most
of our baked goods from
kosher bakeries.”
Due to the pandemic, the
shop will offer takeout and
online ordering only when
it opens. Biederman hopes
to offer cafe-style seating
outdoors, and later indoors,
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM freelance photographer.

“At one point, I said to
Lauren, ‘Do you need an old
Jewish guy in the shop?’” he
said. He had knife skills from his
time working at an Orthodox
summer camp kitchen as a high
school and college student, and
Biederman welcomed him
aboard. Now, he helps out
slicing fish and produce.

“I was looking for something
to keep me a little busier. I have
some nonprofit board work
that I do, but something in the
food service industry was an
exciting opportunity for me,”
Mopsik said.

So far, one of his favorite
items is the pastrami-smoked
salmon from Samaki. The
fish is rubbed with pepper,
coriander, paprika, mustard
and other spices, which creates
a blackened flavorful coating.

“It’s fabulous,” he said. “It’s
beautiful to look at, it slices
nice, it’s just got wonderful
flavor.” l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
SI LE
A U PPE R DU BL I N
NO W
EUGENE MOPSIK
EN OP
At one point, I said to Lauren, ‘Do you need
an old Jewish guy in the shop?’”
S EL
OD M
NG !
Alaska and Canada.

In addition to smoked fish,
the shop at 824 Christian St.

will offer maple syrup, cheese,
tomato sauce and produce
from Vermont. Biederman
is receiving orders of butter
from France and local items
like bagels from Kaplan’s New
Model Bakery and pastries
from vegan Jewish baking
pop-up Lil’ Yenta’s.

“It’s more of a curation of
things that I would like to see,”
Biederman said.

once it is safe to do so.

Eugene Mopsik was walking
to the Italian Market with his
daughter on Christian Street
one weekend in December
when he saw the sign for
the new appetizing shop.

Intrigued, he ducked in and
struck up a conversation with
Biederman. When he learned about
her business idea, the New
York transplant was reminded
of the smoked fish shops he
frequented with his father on
the Lower East Side as a boy, and
of the smoked fish he sampled
during his world travels as a
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JANUARY 14, 2021
13