Rita Baga
Rita Baga at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2023
Born
Jean-François Guevremont

(1987-05-27) May 27, 1987
Boucherville, Quebec, Canada
EducationUniversity of Quebec, Montreal (MA)
Occupation(s)Drag queen, singer, event programmer
Years active2007–present
TelevisionCanada's Drag Race (season 1)
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World
Drag Race Belgique
Websiteritabaga.ca

Rita Baga is the stage name of Jean-François Guevremont (born May 27, 1987), a Canadian drag queen and television personality from Montreal, Quebec,[1] who is most noted as a top three finalist in the first season of Canada's Drag Race.[2] In 2022, it was announced that Rita Baga would be a judge and the main host on Drag Race Belgique, a Belgian version of the franchise. She also returned to compete in Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World in 2022 and made it to the finale episode of the competition once again, placing in the top four.[3]

In addition to performing as Rita Baga, Guevremont worked as director of programming for Fierté Montréal.[4]

Education

Guevremont is an alumnus of the Université du Québec à Montréal, where he studied human resources and tourist development.[5]

Career

Guevremont began his drag career in 2007, performing at Cabaret Mado for the birthday show of his friend Dream, performing a medley from the film Sister Act with colleagues Marla and Célinda. Initially his drag name was Rita d'Marde (A phonetic play on the words "pile of shit", the name sounds like "Laugh, asshole !"),[1] which he changed to Rita Baga in 2010 when he began performing at Cabaret Mado as a regular.[1] In 2013, Rita Baga appeared on La Guerre des clans, V's French-language version of Family Feud.[5]

In 2014, Rita Baga became the permanent host of Bagalicious, the Sunday night program at Cabaret Mado.[6] In 2016 she launched MX Fierté, a cross-Canada drag pageant held in conjunction with Fierté Montréal;[7] in the same year, she travelled to Mumbai, India to perform at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.[8]

In 2017, Guevremont participated in Ils de jour, elles de nuit, an Ici ARTV documentary series about drag queens, alongside Barbada de Barbades, Gaby, Lady Boom Boom, Lady Pounana and Tracy Trash.[9]

Rita Baga

The inaugural season of Canada's Drag Race filmed in late 2019, and the cast was revealed to the public in 2020 several weeks before the show's premiere on July 2. Rita Baga was one of two queens from Montreal, alongside Kiara, to appear in the season.[10] In August 2020, with Fierté Montréal suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Guevremont in his role as director of programming helped to coordinate a special online edition of the annual Drag Superstars show, which featured all of the queens from Canada's Drag Race in prerecorded video performances.[4] While most other queens performed lipsyncs to established pop songs, Guevremont used his segment to premiere the music video for Rita Baga's own original single "Something Spiritual".[5] Rita Baga made it to the top 3 in Canada's Drag Race, with Scarlett BoBo and Priyanka, and won the most weekly challenges over the course of the season, but ultimately lost the crown to Priyanka.[2] She placed high, but did not win, in the Snatch Game challenge for her performance as Édith Piaf.[11]

Following the conclusion of the Canada's Drag Race season, the cast announced a cross-Canada tour, to be performed at drive-in venues due to the ongoing social distancing restrictions remaining in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] The tour was hosted by Brooke Lynn Hytes.[13] Alongside Priyanka, Scarlett BoBo and Jimbo, Rita Baga participated in an online panel as part of the 2020 Just for Laughs festival.[14]

In December 2020, it was announced that Rita Baga would be part of the cast of the first season of the Quebec version of Big Brother Célébrités.[15] She was evicted on day 29 in twelfth place. In April 2021, it was announced that Rita Baga would be one of the regular panelists, alongside Roxane Bruneau, on Qui sait chanter?, the Quebec adaptation of I Can See Your Voice.[16] In July, Rita Baga and Jean-Thomas Jobin, who had been one of her housemates on Big Brother Célebrités, cohosted a Carte blanche gala at the 2021 Just for Laughs festival.[17]

In September, she had a guest role appearing as herself in a fifth-season episode of Madame Lebrun, the Quebec adaptation of Mrs. Brown's Boys.[18] In October 2021, Rita Baga launched Créature, a theatre tour blending lipsynching, live singing and comedy segments.[19] The tour received a Félix Award nomination for Best Variety or Reinterpretation Concert at the 44th Félix Awards in 2022.[20] In November, she was announced as the host of La Drag en moi, a makeover series based on Dragnificent! in which drag queens help ordinary people to look their best for an important event;[21] the series premiered on Crave in August 2022.[22]

In July 2022, she was announced as the host for the upcoming Drag Race Belgique, Belgium's Drag Race spin-off.[23] On September 18, 2022, Rita Baga, Barbada de Barbades and Mona de Grenoble presented an award at the Prix Gémeaux ceremony, reading the nominees before bringing out Gisèle Lullaby, the third season winner of Canada's Drag Race, to announce the winner.[24] She competed in Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World in 2022,[25] portraying Montreal drag icon Guilda in the Snatch Game episode.[26] Rita Baga won two of the main weekly challenges during the season and made it to the finale episode of the competition, placing in the top four.[3]

In 2023, Rita Baga was a contestant in the third season of the French-Canadian version of The Masked Signer as Le Lion. She reached the finale, but ultimately lost to Le Caméléon (the chameleon) portrayed by Michel Courtemanche.[27]

Personal life

"Boniour! I saw a lot of things online recently about me and problematic things i've done in the past. I have make stupid and hurtful mistakes, a long time ago, that I still regret. Deeply. For those of you who did not know this before, I apologize again. I can't undo what i've done as a young, privileged and unaware white queen."

Statement from Rita Baga on Twitter.[28]

On November 6, 2022, Baga issued an apology throughout social media due to a past performance in which she wore blackface to portray Amber Riley from Glee.[29]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2013 La Guerre des clans Herself
2017 Ils de jour, elles de nuit Herself Documentary series
2018 Breakfast Television Montreal Herself Guest[30]
2020 Canada's Drag Race Contestant Runner-up (season 1)
2020-2023 La semaine des 4 Julie Herself Celebrity Guest, 10 episodes
2021-2023 Sucré salé Herself Celebrity Guest, 3 episodes
2021-2022 Le Téléjournal Herself Guest[31][32]
2021 Sans rancune Herself One episode[33]
2021 Big Brother Célébrités Contestant Eliminated; 12th place
2021-2022 Qui sait chanter? Herself Main panelist
2021 Madame Lebrun Herself One episode
2022 La Drag en moi Host Crave original series
2022 Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World Contestant 3rd/4th Place
2023 Drag Race Belgique Main host
2023 Chanteurs masqués Contestant 3rd Place (season 3)

Web series

Year Title Role Notes Ref
2020 Meet The Queens Herself Stand-alone special
Canada's Drag Race Season 1		 [34]
2020 After the Sashay Herself Guest [35]
2020 ET Canada Pride Herself Guest with Priyanka & Scarlett BoBo [36]
2020 Le Podcast de Thomas Levac Herself Guest; Podcast [37]
2020 La vie est belle Herself Guest [38]
2020 Moore, Please Herself Guest with Scarlett BoBo [39]
2020 PopBuzz Meets Herself Guest [40]
2021 Sous Écoute Herself Guest; Episode: "#311 – Rita Baga et Charles Beauchesne" [41]
2021 Pivot avec Pineault Herself Guest [42]
2021 En Coulisses x ELLE Québec Herself Guest [43]
2021 Jay Du Temple discute Herself Guest; Podcast [44]
2021 Le Mouvement Québec Français Présente Herself Guest [45]
2022 Tout le monde s'haït Herself Guest [46]
2022 Encré dans la peau Herself Guest [47]
2022 Meet The Queens Herself Stand-alone special
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs The World		 [48]
2022 Courrier recommandé Herself Guest; By URBANIA [49]

Discography

Title Year Album
"Not Sorry Aboot It"
(with The Cast of Canada's Drag Race, Season 1)		 2020 Non-album singles
"U Wear It Well" – Queens of the North Ru-Mix
(RuPaul featuring the Cast of Canada's Drag Race, Season 1)
"Bonjour, Hi!" (Touché Version)
(The cast of Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs The World)		 2022

Awards and nominations

Year Award-giving body Category Work Results Ref.
2022 23th Gala Les Olivier Olivier de l’année Herself Nominated [50]
2022 2022 Premier Gala de l’ADISQ Spectacle de L’année – Variétés/Réinteprétations Creature Nominated [51]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hugo Dumas, "La future reine québécoise du Nord?" Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine. La Presse, August 19, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Rebecca Alter, "Canada’s Drag Race Season Finale Recap: What’s Her Name?" Archived 2020-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. Vulture.com, September 21, 2020.
  3. 1 2 December 23, Joey Nolfi; EST, 2022 at 10:30 PM. "'Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World' crowns a winner". EW.com. Retrieved 2023-06-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 André-Constantin Passiour, "Une édition canadienne toute spéciale de Drag Superstars". Fugues, August 9, 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Louis Angot, "8 choses à savoir sur Rita Baga, la candidate montréalaise à « Canada's Drag Race »" Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine. Narcity, July 6, 2020.
  6. ↑ André-Constantin Passiour, "Rita Baga rend hommage à Adele" Archived 2016-09-28 at the Wayback Machine. Fugues, September 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ André-Constantin Passiour, "C’est reparti pour une 2e édition du concours MX Fierté" Archived 2023-04-29 at the Wayback Machine. Fugues, February 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ "‘We must all be treated equally; that is the future’" Archived 2023-04-06 at the Wayback Machine. The Hindu, May 27, 2016.
  9. ↑ Emmanuelle Plante, "L’envers du décor de la culture drag" Archived 2020-10-02 at the Wayback Machine. Le Journal de Montréal, April 1, 2017.
  10. ↑ Samuel Larochelle, "Les drag queens montent au front" Archived 2020-08-20 at the Wayback Machine. La Presse, June 28, 2020.
  11. ↑ Alter, Rebecca (August 17, 2020). "Canada's Drag Race season 1 - Episode 5 recap: When life gives you lemons, Lemon gives you life!". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  12. ↑ Peter Knegt, "All hail our queen: A conversation with Canada's Drag Race winner Priyanka" Archived 2021-06-16 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Arts, September 10, 2020.
  13. ↑ Tyler Jadah, "Canada's Drag Race is coming to Montreal's drive-in venue this month" Archived 2020-10-02 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Hive, September 10, 2020.
  14. ↑ Jenelle Riley, "For Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the Show Will Go On(line)" Archived 2020-10-13 at the Wayback Machine. Variety, October 2, 2020.
  15. ↑ Élizabeth Lepage-Boily, "La drag queen Rita Baga se joint à l'aventure Big Brothers Célébrités" Archived 2020-12-12 at the Wayback Machine. Showbizz.net, December 11, 2020.
  16. ↑ Yannick Leclerc, "Rita Baga et Roxanne Bruneau seront les panélistes régulières de «Qui sait chanter?»" Archived 2021-06-23 at the Wayback Machine. Fugues, April 27, 2021.
  17. ↑ Marissa Groguhé, "Rita Baga et Jean-Thomas Jobin, un duo insolite qui promet" Archived 2022-01-29 at the Wayback Machine. La Presse, July 23, 2021.
  18. ↑ Stéphanie Nolin, "Rita Baga transforme la famille Lebrun dans la première de saison de Madame Lebrun" Archived 2021-11-13 at the Wayback Machine. Showbizz.net, September 28, 2021.
  19. ↑ Bruno Lapointe, "Rita Baga: divine Créature" Archived 2021-11-08 at the Wayback Machine. Le Journal de Montréal, October 21, 2021.
  20. ↑ Louis-Philippe Labrèche, "Les résultats du Premier Gala de l’ADISQ 2022" Archived 2022-11-03 at the Wayback Machine. Le Canal Auditif, November 2, 2022.
  21. ↑ Marie-Lise Rousseau, "Rita Baga animera «La drag en moi» l’hiver prochain" Archived 2021-11-15 at the Wayback Machine. Métro, November 15, 2021.
  22. ↑ Frédérique De Simone, "«La drag en moi»: drag à la rescousse" Archived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine. Le Journal de Montréal, August 6, 2022.
  23. ↑ Nolfi, Joey (July 5, 2022). "Canada's Drag Race queen Rita Baga to host RuPaul's Drag Race Belgique: 'My biggest dream comes true'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  24. ↑ Caroline Bertrand, "Les drags brillent sur la scène des Gémeaux" Archived 2022-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. Métro, September 18, 2022.
  25. ↑ Nolfi, Joey (October 17, 2022). "See the 'Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World' cast of international all-stars". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  26. ↑ Kevin O'Keeffe, "‘Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World’ Episode 2 recap: Snatched at the Summit" Archived 2022-11-26 at the Wayback Machine. Xtra!, November 26, 2022.
  27. ↑ Lepage-Boily, Élizabeth (2023-12-03). "Le Caméléon gagne « Chanteurs masqués », mais c'est le Lion qui surprend tout le monde". Showbizz.net (in French). Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  28. ↑ "#CanadasDragRace Star Rita Baga Issues Statement After Being Accused of Doing Blackface". November 7, 2022. Archived from the original on November 7, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
  29. ↑ Iftikhar, Asyia (November 6, 2022). "Drag Race's Rita Baga apologises for 'stupid, hurtful' blackface". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  30. ↑ Meet Rita Baga: Montreal's top drag queen. YouTube. August 7, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  31. ↑ Fierté Montréal : entrevue avec la drag queen Rita Baga. YouTube. August 3, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  32. ↑ Cinq minutes avec Rita Baga. YouTube. October 16, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  33. ↑ Audrée Laurin, "Rita Baga sera à Sans Rancune et à En direct de l'univers!" Archived 2021-10-26 at the Wayback Machine. HollywoodPQ, February 12, 2021.
  34. ↑ MEET THE QUEENS: Rita Baga. YouTube. May 14, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  35. ↑ Canada's Drag Race: After the Sashay with Rita Baga | Xtra. YouTube. September 8, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  36. ↑ 'Canada's Drag Race' Top 3: Priyanka, Rita Baga & Scarlett BoBo Spill Tea On The Finale. YouTube. September 2, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  37. ↑ Rita Baga parle de l'origine et de l'importance de la Fierté/Pride - Le Podcast de Thomas Levac. YouTube. October 28, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  38. ↑ Extrait Ep. 12 - Le VRAI salaire des drags. YouTube. December 4, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  39. ↑ Rita Baga and Scarlett Bobo talk Canada's DragRace on Moore, Please. YouTube. November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  40. ↑ Rita Baga Nominates Queens In The Drag Race Yearbook | Canada's Drag Race | PopBuzz Meets. YouTube. September 4, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  41. ↑ #311 – Rita Baga et Charles Beauchesne. YouTube. March 22, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  42. ↑ Pivot avec Pineault #15 Jean-François Guevremont Rita Baga. YouTube. April 26, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  43. ↑ EN COULISSES : Rita Baga x ELLE Québec. YouTube. June 18, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  44. ↑ Jay Du Temple discute #122 - Jean-François Guevremont. YouTube. December 13, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  45. ↑ La langue internationale de Jean-François Guevremont (Rita Baga). YouTube. December 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  46. ↑ Tout le monde s'haït - Rita Baga. YouTube. October 7, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  47. ↑ Rita Baga et son rapport au tatouage - Encré dans la peau - Unis TV. YouTube. September 5, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  48. ↑ Rita Baga | Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs The World (Crave Original). YouTube. October 17, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  49. ↑ Mado Lamotte, Rita Baga et les mythes de la drag | Courrier recommandé. YouTube. November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  50. ↑ Andre Olivier Lyra (March 19, 2022). "23e Gala Les Olivier : la relève à l'avant-scène". Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  51. ↑ Louis-Philippe-LABRÈCHE (September 21, 2022). "Les nominations du Premier gala de l'ADISQ 2022". lecanalauditif.ca. Archived from the original on October 18, 2022. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
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