Lashauwn Beyond (born November 11, 1989)[1] is an American
drag performer and
costume designer who competed on
season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race. A
catchphrase she said in an argument with fellow contestant
Jiggly Caliente on the companion show RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, "This is not RuPaul's Best Friend Race", became a
meme and a part of the franchise's history. Lashauwn Beyond is based in
Florida and continues to design outfits for Drag Race contestants.
Lashauwn Beyond is a
drag performer and
costume designer. She became interested in drag at age 18, and took the name for her drag persona from her younger sister, Lashauwn.[2] Lashauwn Beyond competed on
season 4 (2012) of RuPaul's Drag Race at the age of 21,[3] placing twelfth overall. She has reportedly kept a low profile since then.[4] She has designed outfits for other contestants,[5] including
Latrice Royale of season 4 and
Malaysia Babydoll Foxx of
season 15 (2023).[6][7]
RuPaul's Drag Race
She was eliminated on the second episode, which featured a wrestling challenge,[2] after placing in the bottom two and losing a
lip-sync against The Princess to "
Bad Girls" (1979) by
Donna Summer.[8][9] Lashauwn Beyond removed her shoes during the performance, against
RuPaul's preference.[10] In 2017,
Thrillist's Brian Moylan ranked her number 69 out of the show's 113 contestants to date.[11] Hanne Low included her in Screen Rant's 2018 list of thirteen contestants eliminated too soon.[12] In The Spinoff's 2019 "definitive ranking" of Drag Race lip-syncs to date, Sam Brooks ranked the battle number 146 out of 162.[9] Buffy Flores included the lip-sync in Pride.com's 2023 list of the show's seven worst of all time, writing: "Most lip syncs have one or two funny/memorable moments. This one has none."[13]
On the first episode of the companion series RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, Lashauwn Beyond said to fellow contestant
Jiggly Caliente during an argument, "This is not RuPaul's Best Friend Race".[14] The
catchphrase became a
meme and has been repeated on subsequent seasons of Drag Race.[5][15] In 2018, Michael Cuby included the argument in Them's list of the ten "messiest fights" in Untucked history,[16] and the online magazine's John Paul Brammer said she should receive
royalty payments for coining the catchphrase.[17] The catchphrase was also included in IN Magazine's 2019 list of the show's seven best to date,[15] as well as Pride.com's 2023 list of ten Drag Race memes "that belong in the Hall of Fame".[18] In 2023, Cailyn Szelinski of Screen Rant wrote, "Lashawun Beyond may not have been a part of season 4 for long, but she did leave her mark on the show by being a part of one of the most heated backstage fights during Untucked ... and made herself a permanent part of Drag Race herstory."[19]