Plasma 'disassociated' during RuPaul's Drag Race lip-sync murder: 'I feel like I wasn’t even there'

Theater kids, grab your tap shoes and get ready to storm the house down boots in the name of Plasma, the BFA weaponizer of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 and the show's latest eliminated beauty who sashayed away from the competition after a deadly lip-sync with Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige.

The New York City showgirl joins Entertainment Weekly's Quick Drag podcast (below) to sing justice for her time on the show, including her unused Snatch Game gags as Patti LuPone, her thoughts on drama with Plane Jane in the Werk Room, her original "antichrist" design for this week's goth couture runway challenge, and her harrowing recollection of that fateful lip-sync that she admits she "disassociated" from on the Main Stage.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 continues Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Listen to Plasma's full elimination interview in the Quick Drag podcast episode above, and read on for a breakdown of the Q&A.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Where were you — really — on Jan. 6?

PLASMA: I’m glad that I’m given the opportunity to clear the air, as a strong Nancy Reagan impersonator. I have never voted for the Republican party, although some of my family members have run on a Republican platform before. I was at home in Texas, watching in horror and shock and dismay just like the rest of us were as our democracy came crumbling to the ground.

Has being on the show impacted that area of your life, with your Republican family?

Only in the sense that my relationships with my family have never been stronger or more empowered. Coming up in Texas, I bore witness to a lot of stereotypical behavior in a rural northeastern part of the state. A lot of my family members did not vote in favor of what I consider people who will advocate on behalf of the community, and yet every time I post something or have another moment on the show, my family are the first people to respond — extended, close, immediate, and otherwise — it’s truly been remarkable. I did grow up in a family that ran on Republican tickets for political offices in the state of Texas, and I also remember coming out to these people when I was a young person and having the most robust, incredible, empathetic response from people that I never saw it coming from.

This week was your unfortunate elimination. How do you feel about this happening after two challenge wins?

I totally, completely disassociated during that lip-sync. I’m a performer, I do my best work on stage in front of people. I remember walking that runway thinking, "I’m glad I learned that song." I’ve never been a person who can sew my way out of a situation. I can sew, but when you’re given 16 hours to create something that will live in infamy together on reality TV, the pressure is on and your fingers start to shake at the machine. I’m still incredibly proud of what I made. I thought it was different for me, it was very much a departure from typical Plasma. I don’t think Dawn sabotaged me, I think she legitimately offered me another opportunity to show versatility, and I took it and have no regrets.

The first thing Sapphira Cristál said to me when we touched base after filming was over was, “Plasma, I love you baby, but Mhi’ya ate your ass up in that lip-sync.” I dissociated so I feel like I wasn’t even there to see. But, I have no doubt. All I remember is that the shoes came off, the wig came off, and the birds on her shoulders came off. I was like, "I’m going home."

Are you prepared for when the fans say you got murdered in this lip-sync? Is that an accurate assessment?

Oh my God, yeah. I genuinely left nothing on the table. I left nothing unexplored.

Let’s go to Snatch Game. Theater icon Patti LuPone! Why, in the spirit of Miss Patti, did you not take the opportunity to snatch Mhi’ya’s phone?

Well, Joey, the edit is not in my control.

So you did snatch it?

She wasn’t sitting next to me, and I wasn’t about to get up and walk around the desk and take someone’s prop. In the spirit of Patti LuPone, you don’t touch someone else’s props. Also, I felt empowered in the knowledge that starting fights on the Snatch Game isn’t something that lands you in a position to be successful…. I was looking at my notes, doing my Patti schtick, I had props ready in my purse to talk about all the things I’d stolen from my various Broadway credits. I had a pair of cheeseburger sunglasses that Plane Jane loaned me and I was going to pull them out of my wallet and say, “I stole these from an off-Broadway flop called Burger Finger: The Musical,” and I was like, I’m nervous, Snatch Game is a very quiet experience when you’re filming it, rest on your laurels.

In the Werk Room, things got a little hairy — or, arm-hairy, I should say — when Plane came over to you to try to get in your head at the beginning of the challenge. Did that blow up any bigger?

Can I be shady? Any time Plane Jane accuses me of stealing an idea of hers, the spectrum on which we look at creativity in this cast is something not lost on me when we consider Plane Jane and creativity — or the lack of creativity — in the package we’re seeing. Plane Jane accusing me of stealing an idea from her is rich because that’s literally the last person I’d steal an idea from. I am proud of what I made. Dawn, in my opinion, wasn’t trying to come for me, she tried to encourage my versatility. Plane Jane and I are sisters, I love that girl and I have respect for that girl, so I’m just throwing some lighthearted shade…. She made a leotard with buckles. You stick to your bodysuit guns, girl, and you go for it, you go for gold. If we’re going to talk about stealing ideas, at least I did something a little bit more conceptually creative than a third leotard in a row for a design challenge, and I’ll stand by that.

Did the drama with Plane seem to get better as the season progressed?

No. The farther along we got, personally the less patience and capacity I had for Plane and her antics. In defense of Plane Jane, she walked in with an agenda and clearly and intentionally executed that agenda, and I think she should be proud. She’s doing a phenomenal job making reality television. ... RuPaul’s Drag Race’s third design challenge closed the door to me and opened a window, hopefully, to performing on Broadway and having a career with longevity. I don’t know necessarily if being a shady c--- on reality television opens that many windows for Plane Jane in the future, but that’s not something I’m going to worry about. ... She’s a true talent; the world’s next bodysuit atelier!

What was your initial idea for this design challenge? It looked like you were working on a completely different look when Dawn told you to course-correct.

It was supposed to be like the legend Patti LuPone and her upcoming appearance in the WandaVision spinoff. I was going to do this antichrist, witchy, Morticia Addams, sleek, black, decadent, witch-pentagram situation. ... Gothic isn’t really my thing. However, I’m doing a “Bloody Mary” Lady Gaga tribute video to an original remix, because f--- the TikTok version. I’m dropping it in conjunction with the episode. ... I’m trying to reclaim this perception that I don’t know what goth is.

What did you do with the look you made?

It’s currently in scraps and shreds after the drag queens I hired for this new music video project were asked to rip it apart, off of my body. [The ”Bloody Mary” video is about] trying to escape the mental trappings of being remembered for something that I completely tanked and failed in.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions from the cast, special guests, and more.

Related content:

• Xunami Muse reveals Snatch Game backup, teases her future on Drag Race: 'Watch the whole thing'
• Megami reveals why she wanted to 'stare Ru down' during key lip-sync lyric before Drag Race elimination
• RuPaul's Drag Race's Geneva Karr explains why she kissed Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige for so long