Halal Bae
{{Short description|Egyptian-born Canadian drag performer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Halal Bae
| image = Halal Bae Palestine closeup.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Halal Bae
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Alexandria, Egypt{{cite web|url=http://mojotoronto.ca/2021/02/23/halal-bae-queen-of-outsiders/ |title=Halal Bae: Queen of Outsiders |website=mojotoronto.ca |publisher=Mojo Toronto |access-date=October 14, 2023}}
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Canadian
| occupation = Drag queen
| television = Canada's Drag Race (season 3)
| years_active =
| known_for =
}}
Halal Bae is an Egyptian-born Canadian drag performer from Toronto, Ontario who competed on season 3 of Canada's Drag Race.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=Canada's Drag Race season 3 cast sash-ehs this way: Meet the queens! |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/canadas-drag-race-season-3-161500381.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}
Early life
Halal Bae was born in Egypt and is of Egyptian-Palestinian ancestry. She was raised by a Muslim family in the Middle East, before immigrating to Canada at the age of 18.{{Cite web |last=Ng |first=Tobin |date=2022-08-30 |title=Halal Bae wants to shift perceptions of what drag can be |url=https://broadview.org/halal-bae/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=Broadview Magazine |language=en |archive-date=2023-02-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210013626/https://broadview.org/halal-bae/ |url-status=live }}
Career
Halal Bae is a drag performer. She gained prominence in Toronto, and was named the city's best drag performer by NOW Magazine in 2020. She competed on the third season of Canada's Drag Race, becoming the first North African performer on the franchise.{{Cite web |date=2022-07-29 |title=Halal Bae & Miss Moco On Their 'Canada's Drag Race' Journeys |url=https://instinctmagazine.com/halal-bae-miss-moco-on-their-canadas-drag-race-journeys/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=Instinct Magazine |language=en-US}} Halal Bae was also the first contestant to have a mustache, which Screen Rant said "[expanded] the idea of what it means to be a drag performer and how drag queens must look to be considered valid".{{Cite web |last=Szelinski |first=Cailyn |date=2022-06-29 |title=Canada's Drag Race: Where To Find The Season 3 Queens on Social Media |url=https://screenrant.com/canadas-drag-race-season-3-queens-social-media/ |access-date=2023-10-15 |website=ScreenRant |language=en |archive-date=2022-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717031703/https://screenrant.com/canadas-drag-race-season-3-queens-social-media/ |url-status=live }} Tobin Ng of Broadview said Halal Bae received praise on social media "for bringing Muslim and Middle Eastern representation to the show", and Michel Cook of Instinct magazine wrote, "Not only did they help shatter stereotypes as to what a queer Muslim person truly is, Bae is the first North African person to hit the Drag Race competition."{{Cite web |date=2022-07-29 |title=Halal Bae & Miss Moco On Their 'Canada's Drag Race' Journeys |url=https://instinctmagazine.com/halal-bae-miss-moco-on-their-canadas-drag-race-journeys/ |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Instinct Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324123642/https://instinctmagazine.com/halal-bae-miss-moco-on-their-canadas-drag-race-journeys/ |url-status=live }}
Personal life
Halal Bae is queer and based in Toronto. CBC News has described her as an "Arab Muslim activist queen".{{Cite news |title=RuPaul took drag mainstream. Now this Toronto drag queen says it's time to diversify the look |work=CBC |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-430-snc-lavalin-in-court-revisionist-oscars-elliott-abrams-google-built-cities-rupaul-and-more-1.5027926/rupaul-took-drag-mainstream-now-this-toronto-drag-queen-says-it-s-time-to-diversify-the-look-1.5027972 |access-date=2023-10-16 |archive-date=2023-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322164214/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-430-snc-lavalin-in-court-revisionist-oscars-elliott-abrams-google-built-cities-rupaul-and-more-1.5027926/rupaul-took-drag-mainstream-now-this-toronto-drag-queen-says-it-s-time-to-diversify-the-look-1.5027972 |url-status=live }} Halal Bae likes to focus on social work, community building,{{Cite web |date=2024-07-30 |title=Halal Bae: Queen of Outsiders |url=http://mojotoronto.ca/2021/02/23/halal-bae-queen-of-outsiders/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |language=en-US}} and has said: "For me, drag is used as a political tool, as a means of expressing my artistic practice, of community-building."{{Cite web |last=Ng |first=Tobin |date=2022-08-30 |title=Halal Bae wants to shift perceptions of what drag can be |url=https://broadview.org/halal-bae/ |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=Broadview Magazine |language=en}}
According to The New Arab, she is "a staunch supporter of a free Palestine".{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-07-15 |title=Halal Bae 'shockingly' eliminated from Canada's Drag Race |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/halal-bae-shockingly-eliminated-canadas-drag-race |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=The New Arab |language=en |archive-date=2023-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016005545/https://www.newarab.com/news/halal-bae-shockingly-eliminated-canadas-drag-race |url-status=live }}
Halal Bae uses the pronouns she/her in drag and he/they out of drag.{{Cite web |date=2022-06-15 |title=Canada's Drag Race season 3 cast sash-ehs this way: Meet the queens! |url=https://news.yahoo.com/canadas-drag-race-season-3-161500381.html |access-date=2023-10-16 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628021332/https://news.yahoo.com/canadas-drag-race-season-3-161500381.html |url-status=live }}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Canada's Drag Race}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bae, Halal}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
Category:Canadian people of Egyptian descent
Category:Canadian people of Palestinian descent
Category:Drag performers from Toronto
Category:Kuwaiti emigrants to Canada