Drag performers DragTrashly and Deere started using the video streaming platform Twitch in 2016. Both are avid gamers who often stream themselves playing horror video games like “Dead by Daylight” and “Resident Evil.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, more drag performers joined Twitch. The usual places for drag performances — bars, theaters, restaurants — were closed.
Even Trixie Mattel, a world famous queen known for competing on reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” tried her hand at streaming.
Performers held virtual drag shows where they lip-synced to songs, just as they would in a pre-pandemic world.
Others, like Mattel, streamed while playing video games and interacting with fans in live chat.
“Out of necessity, a lot of drag artists joined the (Twitch) platform … as a way to express their drag creativity,” DragTrashly said. “When bars started opening back up, they went back to their shows and … they just streamed less. But I think that in the end, the overall number of drag performers on Twitch is a lot, and I think I think that's great.”
Both say drag has grown on Twitch since the start of the pandemic. It even has a bigger place at TwitchCon, which was held in San Diego earlier this month.
“I think that lasting impact is … enthralling ‘cause after COVID, after 2020, that's when a drag showcase started happening at TwitchCon,” Deere said. “When we started, people would be like, if you go to a local bar, ‘Oh, where do you perform? What do you usually do?’ ‘Oh, I stream on the internet.’ And they'd be like, ‘That's not drag. What do you mean?’”
The rising popularity of streaming has changed that perception, Deere added.
While some drag performers have left Twitch since 2020, Deere and DragTrashly have stayed. Besides the community engagement, they also value the platform’s content moderation.
“I feel like Twitch really takes as much care as they can overall with auto-mod tools and protection systems, and I think that Twitch takes abuse the most seriously compared to other (social media platforms),” Deere said.
“(On) TikTok, while there's hardly any moderation tools and at the same time you get banned — or I get banned — constantly, or at least I used to,” DragTrashly said. “People will mass report you, and you get banned. And it's automatic and it cuts off the stream. You can appeal and you'll get your account back, but it was happening every time I streamed.”
Both streamers also find Twitch’s openness and support of drag and LGBTQ+ content appealing. They point to other digital companies that chose not to acknowledge Pride this year, saying it was an attempt to appeal to the Trump administration.
“Twitch has not done that. They've continued their support of not only LGBTQ+ but of drag … this is the biggest drag showcase that we're about to have,” DragTrashly said.
The Drag Showcase at TwitchCon 2025 was hosted by Mattel and drag performer Pearl Teese. Twitch streamers in the drag community performed lip-syncs and fielded questions from the hosts.
“Twitch is the only company putting their name on a drag show that isn't some gay company,” Deere said. “Twitch is a trailblazer for queer content, honestly.”
But there’s still room to grow.
“While drag has been booming on Twitch, we're still very small, very small … there's no Hasan (Piker) of drag,” DragTrashly said. There's a lot more room to grow … I think drag could be more. I think drag needs to be bigger on Twitch.”
