Jaidynn Diore Fierce is the stage name of Christopher Williams, an American drag performer who competed on

season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of the American television series ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

''. Williams, who is originally from

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, lives and works in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. He has spoken out against Tennessee's bill to ban public drag performance and

gender-affirming care Transgender health care, also known as gender-affirming care, includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical and mental health conditions, as well as sex reassignment therapies, for transgender individuals.Gorton N, Grubb HM (2014) ...

for

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

youth.

Early life and education

Christopher Williams was born in the U.S. state of

and raised in a Christian household. He graduated from high school in

and attended his first

drag show A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women. Typically, a drag show involves performers singing or lip-synching to songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime or dancing. There might also be so ...

at Play Dance Bar in 2007 on the night of his graduation.

Career

Williams began his drag career in Nashville, competing in pageants for several years. He auditioned for ''

'' three times and was selected to compete as Jaidynn Diore Fierce in the show's seventh season (2015). On the show, she impersonated

Raven-Symoné Raven-Symoné Christina Pearman-Maday () (née Pearman; born December 10, 1985), also known mononymously as Raven, is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She has received several accolades, including five NAACP Image Awards, two Kids ...

for the

Snatch Game Snatch Game is a challenge on the ''Drag Race'' reality competition television franchise. Beginning with the second season of the original American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', the challenge has taken place on every season since. It has also o ...

challenge. Jaidynn Diore Fierce was partnered with

Tempest DuJour Tempest DuJour is the stage name of Patrick Lee Holt, an American drag performer most known for competing on season 7 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Holt is also an associate professor at the University of Arizona. Career Tempest DuJour has performe ...

on the episode " Conjoined Queens", a pairing

Pride.com Here Media Inc. is an LGBT-oriented media company. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company produces and distributes niche content focused on LGBT consumers. History Here Media was founded in 2009 by Paul Colichman and Stephen P. Jarchow when He ...

deemed a "betrayal" on

Kennedy Davenport Reuben Asberry Jr., better known by the stage name Kennedy Davenport (born September 9, 1980), is a drag queen, television personality, and dancer from Dallas, Texas, who came to international attention on the seventh season of ''RuPaul's Drag ...

's part. Jaidynn Diore Fierce eliminated two contestants from the competition and was placed eighth overall. She was eliminated by

Ginger Minj Joshua Allen Eads, stage name Ginger Minj (born September 11, 1984), an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, and reality television personality. After achieving recognition for placing as the runner-up on the seventh season of the real ...

. Pride.com said Jaidynn Diore Fierce "was another great example of a queen who had everything it took to go all the way, but just wasn't ready yet to tackle all of the challenges that one must face on ''Drag Race''". Michael Cook of ''Out In Jersey'' called her the "true heart" of the season and said she had an "infectious" personality. Ryan Shea included Jaidynn Diore Fierce in ''Instinct'' magazine's 2019 list of the ten best "plus size queens". Jaidynn Diore Fierce recorded "The Beginning" for ''CoverGurlz 2'', a 2015 compilation album featuring season-7 contestants performing covers of songs by

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' ...

. In 2016, Jaidynn Diore Fierce was part of the rotating cast of Playmates at Nashville's Play Dance Bar. In 2017, she participated in a drag show to raise funds for Puerto Rico residents who were affected by

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

, and the following year, she headlined the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

's nineteenth annual drag show. As of 2022, she was part of the all-Black drag trio Missfits with her "drag sisters" Sapphire Mylan and Venus Ann Serena, who has also been described as Jaidynn Diore Fierce's "drag daughter". Also in 2022, Jaidynn Diore Fierce and fellow ''Drag Race'' contestant Mercedes Iman Diamond performed at the first drag brunch in

Ely, Minnesota Ely ( ) is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,268 at the 2020 census. Located on the Vermilion iron range, Ely once had several iron ore mines. It is an entry point for campers and canoers into the Bou ...

. In 2023, Jaidynn Diore Fierce was part of a fundraiser to spotlight queer performers in

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

and

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

, and to protest the passage of anti-LGBT legislation in Tennessee. She was also among a group of ''Drag Race'' contestants and other Tennessee-based drag artists who joined

Lizzo Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo, is an American singer, rapper, and flutist. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Houston, Texas with her family when she was 10 years old. After col ...

on stage at one of her concerts as part of the singer's protest against the state's bill to ban public drag performance. Among other 2023 events in which Jaidynn Diore Fierce performed were a local '' Wizard of Oz''-themed brunch and an LGBTQ+

pub quiz A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. Pub quizzes may attract customers to a pub who are not found there on other days. The pub quiz is ...

fundraiser in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

Personal life

Christopher Williams lives in Nashville, . He has struggled with his

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

, being both Christian and gay. In addition to joining Lizzo on stage, Jaidynn Diore Fierce has spoken out against Tennessee's bill to ban public drag performance and gender-affirming care for trans youth. In 2023,

John Oliver John William Oliver (born 23 April 1977) is a British-American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention ...

defended Fierce against Gabrielle Hanson, a Republican politician from Tennessee, on Oliver's television series ''

Last Week Tonight A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by Shoemaking, shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts typically come in pairs and have been made from various materials, including hardwoods, cas ...

''.

Discography

* "The Beginning" (2015)

Filmography

Television

* ''

'' (

)

References

External links

Christopher Williams
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fierce, Jaidynn Diore 1980s births 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people Living people American drag queens American gay entertainers Christians from Tennessee Drag performers from Nashville, Tennessee Gay Christians LGBT people from Tennessee RuPaul's Drag Race contestants