ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the network of key influencers who have impacted the discourse on drag art on YouTube through 2019. First, this chapter identifies the most important publishers of drag-related content on YouTube. Second, it highlights which drag queens have featured most frequently in the videos. Within the YouTube network, this allows me to identify (1) opinion leaders of subcommunities who build their own fan bases and communicate their own understanding of drag art and (2) bridges that span and mediate between different subcommunities. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of how the mainstream success of RuPaul’s Drag Race has changed the drag scene and how YouTube might provide an opportunity for lesser-known drag queens to make their own contribution despite the increasing commercialization of drag art online.
