‘Drag Race’ Files: What Happened To Tyra Sanchez

By Bianca Guzzo

A cloud of controversy has surrounded the American entertainer and drag queen formerly known as Tyra Sanchez ever since they stepped onto the public scene after competing in and winning the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2010. Despite being one of RuPaul’s chosen ones, Tyra Sanchez (who was born April 21, 1988, and whose real name is James William Ross IV) later pulled completely away from the drag community, even briefly retiring from drag altogether. Was this because of the string of controversies that have plagued Ross’s career, or was it something else?

While a lot happened leading up to Ross’s short retirement as Tyra Sanchez in 2020, reliable information on the entertainer is hard to come by, so we’ve put together a complete crash course timeline to help you navigate the highs and lows of the career of Tyra Sanchez—including battles with fellow cast members, vile comments about the deaths of The Vivienne and Jiggly Caliente—and the most recent announcement that Tyra plans to sue RuPaul, Michelle Visage and World of Wonder. Yes, there’s more drama to come.

2010: RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 2

We were first introduced to Ross as the 21-year-old Florida queen who was the last to enter the werk room on the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2010 and stuck it out to the very end of the competition. Season 2 was kind of iconic: it was the season that brought us Shangela for the first time, as well as Jujubee, Tatianna and Raven. Through Ross’s time on Drag Race, we saw Tyra get into some drama with the other queens of the seasons. Whether it was sleeping in the werk room and being woken up by Ru herself, or not being a complete team player in team challenges, Tyra’s journey on the show was a unique one to witness. Who could forget that iconic moment between Ross and Tatianna in their wedding dresses on the main stage?

Ross as Tyra blazed through the season, being the queen everyone loved to hate. All of this aside, “the other Tyra” (as RuPaul referred to Ross, to avoid any confusion with model Tyra Banks) ended up taking the crown for the season, and the $25,000 prize—the first in the show’s history to win without ever being in the bottom two.

2016: The tweets that opened a can of worms

Ross got into some hot water in 2016 because of some troubling exchanges on Twitter with fans where he tweeted under his account (then called @iTyra), “go kill yourself bitch,” in response to a Drag Race fan who had called him annoying. Later, he refused to apologize for his words, and stated he had no sympathy for those who chose to take their own life, calling them cowards who had just given up. In the same response, he stated that he felt bad for the families they had left behind, and told those who had taken offence at his words to direct their anger into energy to help those who are still struggling.

Confused? Everyone was at the time. Some fans believed Ross was using the term “bitch” as loose slang, while others who were offended by the statement thought someone with a large following and some level of influence shouldn’t be using their platform to spread hateful messages. RuPaul addressed the T on his podcast and came to Ross’s defence. “People don’t get nuance on Twitter. You can’t do irony on Twitter; people won’t get it,” Ru explained at the time. Although it is very hard to decipher tone over a body of text, Ross’s message still (rightfully) left drag fans divided on where they stood with it.

2017: Morgan McMichaels is DEAD?

In 2017, Ross posted an obituary for fellow Season 2 queen Morgan McMichaels on the Tyra Sanchez Facebook page. When fans clicked on the link to the obituary, they were redirected to Tyra’s personal SoundCloud page, leading fans to believe that the obituary was being used to promote Tyra’s own music. This obviously shocked and angered fans, especially when they realized Morgan was still alive and currently performing at a gig. When Morgan confirmed—following a show she was playing that same evening—that she was very much alive, the whole thing started to unravel.

The whole ordeal circled back to a booking at a Hollywood nightclub that Ross lost because of comments he had made about another Season 2 queen, Raven, which caused drama with Raven’s friend Morgan. While Ross did eventually apologize for posting the fake obituary for Morgan, he was also firm that he would never take it down. Are you keeping up? Good, because this is going to be a running theme in the timeline.

2018: The Drama With DragCon

What most people will remember about Tyra the drag queen is probably the DragCon controversy. For a lot of newer Drag Race fans, this was their first introduction to Tyra, and it was kind of a mess. Here’s what happened: ahead of RuPaul’s DragCon in Los Angeles in 2018, Ross made online threats against fellow queens Tatianna and Phi Phi O’Hara; as a result, Tyra was banned from attending the weekend-long event. A countdown was also posted on the Tyra Sanchez official website—with the acronym “B.O.O.M” counting down to the date of the event. This created a lot of worry for queens and fans alike on the internet, specifically on Twitter, where fans were pleading for people attending the event to take extra precautions, or to not go at all.

Thankfully, nothing ended up happening, but it was enough for Ross to be exiled from the community completely. After being banned from attending the event, Ross posted an email to the Tyra Sanchez social accounts that World of Wonder (the event organizers) had sent to stating that they wanted an apology to be made. “This apology has to make it clear that you do not condone violence against another person (including other queens) and that you will in no way encourage others to act violently (or otherwise inappropriately),” the email stated. When it came out that the video apology that was ultimately recorded wasn’t good enough to get back in the good books at World of Wonder, Ross responded via the Tyra Sanchez social accounts again…with a refusal to re-apologize. “I will not be apologizing again for something that happened last month. I apologized then for my anger, my temper, my behavior and my choice of words.”

2019: A public apology (finally?)

Following the worrisome threats and behaviour Ross had shown as Tyra, he ended up making a public apology via social media in early October 2019, more than a year after the initial DragCon incident. The apology outlined that while he was sorry for what he had said, his anger came from feelings he had been burying and masking for years. Writing as King Tyra Sanchez, his new stage name, Ross wrote, “To each of you reading this I humbly apologize for the online behavior I have displayed in recent years. Though it represents emotions I may have felt, it does not represent my true character. I have failed you and I know I am much better than that.”

While the apology seemed sincere, more drama quickly followed, as well as backlash from fans who continued to crusade for Ru to take back Tyra’s title and crown because of past behaviour.

2019–2020: Retirement from drag

In the October 2019 formal apology, Ross explained that the past few years had been a rollercoaster journey, with many ups and downs. He stated that the anger he had displayed came from a very dark place. Then, in an Instagram post in March 2020, he announced that, after some soul-searching, he had come to realize that the best decision for him going forward was to retire from drag altogether. “For those asking, Tyra Sanchez has fulfilled her purpose in my life. I, James Ross, no longer want to be referred to as Tyra, Tyra Sanchez, her, she, girl, or queen.”

Thus ended (it seemed) the once triumphant, and as of lately tumultuous, career of Tyra Sanchez.

2020–2024: The bitch is back

Ross’s troubles weren’t over. A few months after that post, in August 2020, TMZ reported that Ross had been arrested and charged with vandalism in Atlanta for spray painting “Don’t Move Here Ever!!” on the side of a building. In July 2023, it was revealed that he had been arrested again, this time in Florida, for protesting an arrest he had previously resisted following a car accident on May 17. He was arrested for allegedly “breaking the peace and causing disruptions” in a construction zone. According to Entertainment Weekly, Ross was arrested while wearing a dildo, which caused the distraction of traffic to become dangerous. 

In the midst of those legal troubles, and despite announcing his retirement from drag, Ross returned to drag (exclusively on OnlyFans) sometime in 2022 as King Tyra. In an Exposed interview posted on April 5, 2023, Ross spoke publicly about how he had been treated by the RuPaul’s Drag Race and World of Wonder teams, positioning himself as a victim of abuse and disavowing his Drag Race win. Ross claimed he hadn’t had contact with either business since the 2018 DragCon incident.

On November 16, 2024, Ross posted a message on X asking fans to drop the “King” and just use the name Tyra again.

2025: Joking about death isn’t funny 

The immeasurable loss of a beloved queen in 2025 led to another controversy. Back in 2020, Drag Race UK and All Stars 7 queen The Vivienne had mentioned Tyra in a tweet, writing, “Bet Tyra was fuming when she Realised Netflix Spoiled the win Too. Sorry gal. You Tried though,” seemingly referring to the time Netflix spoiled the announcement of the All Stars Season 5 winner by accidentally mentioning it early on a promotional banner via socials. On January 5, 2025, it was announced that The Vivienne had tragically passed away. Within hours of the announcement—while queens all over the world were publicly sharing their grief—Ross had gone back five years in his Twitter mentions to reply to that very tweet, saying, “Yet it doesn’t compare to the fumes of the crematorium.” Both Drag Race fans and past competitors of the show were shocked.

Season 13 queen Kandy Muse replied to the post, saying, “I’ve defended you for years but now you can absolutely go fuck yourself and if our path were to ever cross it’s absolutely on sight bitch, it’s not a threat it’s a promise. you disgusting person.” Tyra responded, saying the threat had been received and for Kandy to “prepare your funeral.”

Ross doubled down a few days later, posting a video to their X account (now @thatdamntyra). The video was a stock image of a crematorium with an on-screen caption that read, “songs I would play if I owned a crematorium” while Alicia Keys’ “This Girl is on Fire” played. The posts mocking The Vivienne’s death had fans of Drag Race once again calling on RuPaul to strip Tyra of her title and cut her ties with the franchise for good. RuPaul, after posting her own text tribute to The Vivienne, posted a short clip of her slapping Tyra during a Season 2 challenge. There was no caption; RuPaul let the action speak for itself.

Ross responded with a string of posts on X, mostly thanking people for running up the engagement on their page with replies, along with a cartoon of Tyra leaning on a tombstone that read “Here Lies She Who Came For Me,” and a cartoon image of RuPaul wearing a Confederate flag gown being held up by puppet strings in front of a crowd of protesters. 

Next. Ross continued to poke fun at The Vivienne’s death on X, and began promoting a new self-produced web series.

On April 27, 2025, Drag Race fans were devastated to learn the news of the death of Jiggly Caliente at the age of 44. Jiggly, whose real name was Bianca Castro-Arabejo, passed away just days after undergoing a right leg amputation following complications caused by an infection. As tributes poured in across social media from devastated fans and friends, one of the most poignant and touching came from Jaremi Carey (previously known by his drag persona Phi Phi O’Hara). Jaremi posted a beautiful tribute on X after the news broke, paying tribute to a dear friend—to which Ross responded: “Mwauh!… NO LEG.” A new low for the controversial queen.

2026: Legal action against RuPaul, Michelle Visage and WOW

On January 4, 2026, Ross announced plans on Facebook to sue RuPaul, Michelle Visage and World of Wonder Productions. The post was an attempt at transparency with the legal proceedings, with Ross splitting the lawsuit into sections claiming defamation, personal distress and “tortious interference with prospective economic advantage” at the hands of the network and the two hosts. Ross claimed that the three defendants have been acting as a united front to disparage and destroy Ross’s reputation and credibility within the Drag Race franchise and the drag community. 

The lengthy post outlined examples, including Visage allegedly discrediting Ross as the rightful Season 2 winner during the Season 3 press tour, and her failure to publicly rectify the comments by sending Ross a private DM apologizing. Ross also claimed that they were ridiculed at DragCon 2017 by an orchestrated audience question during a panel, as well as being subjected to an LA police investigation the following year. That investigation, Ross wrote, was triggered by “baseless claims” Ross made on Twitter in 2018 warning fans not to go to DragCon; the suit stated the whole ordeal branded Ross as dangerous, thus inciting even more public ridicule from fans of the show and from their peers within the drag community.

In the final section of the post, Ross accused RuPaul of “a pattern of defamatory storylines” across multiple seasons of All Star, as well as a “continuous campaign of targeted humiliation,” seemingly referencing the post RuPaul made on Instagram following Ross’s response to The Vivienne’s death. The post ended with a plea for “immediate relief including compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants.” 

As of January 6, the Star Observer (an Australian LGBTI publication) reported that there was no trace of legal documents that had actually been filed by Ross, or of a legal team. 

Where are we now?

Until the incident following The Vivienne’s death in January 2025, fans and Drag Race alum had largely remained divided on this specific chapter of the show’s history. Up to that point, many believed—even following threats of violence to other queens and the public at large—that perhaps Tyra had been judged too harshly, pushed too far, or simply misunderstood. But this specific episode made them second-guess their previous support. Even those who had backed the controversial figure have come out and said this was behaviour that could not be overlooked or defended. 

However, time goes by, and posts made by Ross, or “Tyra Sanchez,” will always have fans and supporters, although the latest stunts have caused many to change their opinion on the polarizing queen. Controversies like these give us the chance to take a critical look at how we allow people with public platforms to deal with the mistakes they make, and how they respond to criticism for their actions. Ross has never shown remorse about the posts about The Vivienne and Jiggly Caliente. They’ve continued to act in patterns we’ve seen them follow over the past 15 years, and to show behaviour that fellow Season 2 queen Tatianna tried to warn us about 16 years ago. 

It’s been almost a decade since the DragCon incident, and Tyra Sanchez still seems to be terrorizing the drag community by stooping to new lows every year. Many fans and queens continue to argue that the behaviour Ross has demonstrated over the last 16 years does not reflect the core ideals of safe spaces and inclusivity that they try to maintain in places like their fan bases, and DragCon. And while it seems that the world of drag may finally be ready to cut ties with Tyra Sanchez for good, Ross’s legacy—of being the first to win Drag Race without ever being in the bottom rankings, the youngest Drag Race winner prior to Krystal Versace’s crowning in 2021, and the first Drag Race queen to (briefly) retire completely from drag—will never be taken away from them.