This year at Outfest, the L.A. homosexualist film festival, RuPaul bestowed “the 15th Annual Outfest Achievement Award [on] World of Wonder founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato,” whose “many credits include RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
World of Wonder produces RuPaul’s Drag Race (q.v.) and its satellite shows, which together are the anchors and the only reason for existence of Logo in the U.S. and OutTV in Canada. Hence RuPaul Charles handed an award to his business partners. Surely a conflict of interest?
Hardly, insists Outfest publicist Guido Gotz: “I don’t understand how it is a conflict of interest. Despite the fact that RuPaul has been longtime friends with them before they even started the show together, it is absolutely common for any (lifetime) achievement award to be presented by colleagues.” But what we’re talking about is money changing hands, not heart-to-heart text messaging among longtime chums.
Just for once I would like to be able to associate Bailey and Barbato with ethical behaviour, theirs or others’.