‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ finalist Asia O’Hara has apologised after her butterfly stunt went badly.
The 35-year-old reality star was pitted against Kameron Michaels as they battled to make it to the final sudden death lip sync with ‘Nasty’ by Janet Jackson.
Although she was covered in boxes filled with butterflies attached to her chest and wrists, it didn’t go to plan.
Instead of a beautiful winged display fluttering out, they simply dropped to the ground leaving fears the insects were dead.
Asia was eliminated from the competition, which was won by Aquaria, and she has since issued a statement on the controversial moment on social media.
She wrote on Instagram: "I just want to let everyone know how sad and heartbroken I am by the way my lip sync performance during the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race turned out.
"Despite months of research and rehearsing with a professional company, what I hoped would be an amazing and safe display of optimism, and a surprise for everyone including production and the network, it did not go as planned.
"I would like to publicly offer the entire world my deepest apology. It’s important that everyone knows that I would never purposely hurt any living being and have the utmost respect for all animals. (sic)"
Asia added that she and her friends would "be donating over 100 volunteer hours to the ASPCA", which has been "dedicated to the fair treatment of animals since 1866".
She added: "I can’t apologise enough for what happened. I want my fans and the world to know that I’ll continue to be humble, own my mistakes, and lead with love and light."
The issue was down to Asia using Painted Lady butterflies which need to be warmed up to fly away, and transported in controlled conditions.
She added to ‘Entertainment Weekly’: "I, of course, rehearsed it at home several times and it worked, but [the finale was] a different place and a different environment, and I don’t think the contraptions were warm enough to wake the butterflies up. ‘But, as they warmed up in the stage lights during the break, they started to fly away!"
Meanwhile, the season 10 finale of ‘Drag Race’ has brought with it global music streaming service Deezer’s ranking of the show’s most streamed stars since the show’s inception.
Season six queen Adore Delano – who was a semi-finalist on ‘American Idol’ in 2008 as Danny Noriega – hits the number one spot, while the lies of Alaska Thunderf**k, Trixie Mattel, Jinkx Monsoon and Bob the Drag Queen round off the top five.
According to Deezer streaming data, the most popular RuPaul song streamed since Season 10 began is the special edit of album title track ‘American’ featuring the cast of the season, followed by All Stars Season Three hit ‘Kitty Girl’, also from 2017’s album.
RuPaul finalist sorry for bufferfly stunt
