Martell Robinson (born October 16, 1976), known by the
stage name Jasmine Masters, is an American
drag queen
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...
, internet celebrity, YouTuber, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for competing on the
seventh season of ''
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 ...
'' and
''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' season 4. Robinson is responsible for several
viral video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...
s, many of which have become
memes
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
, most notably ''And I Oop!'' which was the most used
gif of 2019.
Early life
Martell Robinson was born on October 16, 1976 in
Los Angeles County, California.
He first did drag in 1997 at the age of 21 by impersonating
Patti LaBelle. The drag name "Jasmine Masters" came from
Jasmine Guy
Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an American actress, director, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as Dina in the 1988 film ''School Daze'' and as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on the NBC ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'', ...
and her drag mother, Destiny Masters. He auditioned for ''Drag Race'' beginning with
Season two.
Career
Before Drag Race, Robinson appeared as the character, Mordecai, in the 2008 film ''
First Sunday
''First Sunday'' is a 2008 American crime comedy film written, produced and directed by David E. Talbert, and produced by Ice Cube, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Katt Williams and Tracy Morgan. The film was released in t ...
''. He also appeared with fellow ''Drag Race'' alumnus
Willam for an episode of
The New Normal in 2013.
''RuPaul's Drag Race''
Jasmine was announced as one of the fourteen contestants for
season seven of
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 ...
on March 2, 2015. She was eliminated in the third episode after lip-syncing against
Kennedy Davenport, and placed 12th overall. During her time on the show, she received online death threats including racist remarks, which eventually led to
RuPaul defending Masters on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. Masters would be referenced in 2017 by
Nina Bo'Nina Brown
Nina Bo'nina Brown is the stage name of Pierre Leverne Dease, an American drag queen and reality television personality best known for starring on the ninth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', where she placed sixth.
Early life
Dease was born ...
for
season nine
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 pol ...
of Drag Race, with Brown impersonating her for the annual "
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 ...
".
Masters competed on the ''Drag Race'' television special ''
RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular
''RuPaul's Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular'' was a holiday television special, which aired on VH1 on December 7, 2018. The hour-long ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' special, announced on November 1, had former ''Drag Race'' contestants Eureka O'Hara, Jasm ...
''. Masters later posted a YouTube video explaining why she wasn't featured as much as the other contestants in the special, stating that
Shangela
Chantize Darius Jeremy Pierce, better known as Shangela Laquifa Wadley or mononymously as Shangela (born November 22, 1980), is an American drag queen, reality television personality and actor best known for competing on ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. S ...
was late during one of the rehearsals, which caused Masters to become frustrated and leave the set early.
Masters was announced to compete on the
fourth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars''.
She was eliminated in the first episode by
Trinity the Tuck
Ryan A. Taylor, known professionally as Trinity "The Tuck" Taylor or just Trinity the Tuck (born December 10, 1985),Taylor in is an American drag queen and recording artist best known for competing on the ninth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race' ...
after her poor
stand-up
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
performance for the annual talent show, placing 10th. She had a chance to return in sixth episode, where the eliminated queens faced off with the queens still in running, but lost a lip sync to Trinity, eliminating her for good.
She appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of
season eleven of Drag Race.
After ''Drag Race''
After ''Drag Race'', she was one of thirty drag queens featured in
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus ( ; born Destiny Hope Cyrus on November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her distinctive raspy voice, her music spans across varied styles and genres, including pop, country, rock, hip ho ...
's 2015
VMA performance.
Masters gained notoriety with her self-published YouTube videos on her channel. Her video "''RuPaul Dragrace fucked up drag''", criticizing the show's portrayal of drag, sparked criticism from fans and queens including
Phi Phi O'Hara
Jaremi Lee Carey (born Jeremy Lee Carey; October 10, 1985) is an American actor, streamer, singer, cosplay artist, and former drag performer who performed under the name Phi Phi O'Hara. In the O'Hara persona, Carey came to international attention ...
. The video was featured in Willam's internet show, "''Willam's Beatdown''". Her video "''Fix ur breath''" was featured in a post on
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...
's Instagram page, making Masters go viral.
Because of Masters's viral success, she is the host of her own web show with
WowPresents called "''Jasmine Masters Master Class''" that premiered its first episode in 2018. She also was featured as a guest in an episode of ''Lemme Pick You Up'' with
Ts Madison
Ts Madison Hinton (born October 22, 1977), also known as Maddie, is an American reality television personality, actress, and LGBT activist. With the reality show ''The Ts Madison Experience'', she became the first black trans woman to star in and ...
. She was a guest for multiple episodes of the web series "Wait, What?" with
Kimora Blac
Kimora Blac is the stage name of Von Nguyen, an American drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the ninth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''.
Early life
Von Nguyen was born on December 15, 1988, in Wichita, Kansas. S ...
.
She was with
Tammie Brown
Tammie Brown is the stage name of Keith Glen Schubert (born September 15, 1980), an American drag performer, reality television personality, and recording artist. Brown was a fixture in the Southern California drag scene before appearing on the ...
,
Miz Cracker
Miz Cracker (born April 19, 1984) is the stage name of Maxwell Elias Heller, an American drag queen and television personality. He is best known for placing fifth on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and for being a runner-up on the fi ...
,
Eureka O'Hara
Eureka, also known as Eureka O'Hara and Eureka!, is the stage name of Eureka D. Huggard (born August 26, 1990), an American drag queen and reality television personality. Eureka rose to prominence competing on the ninth and tenth seasons of ''Ru ...
,
Shea Coulee and
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 ...
for two episodes of the
Billboard web series "''Spillin' The Tea''" in June 2018. She was with
Trixie Mattel
Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp ...
to discuss the ''Drag Race''
season ten contestants for
Access
Access may refer to:
Companies and organizations
* ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network
* Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom
* Access Co., a Japanese software company
* Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...
.
Masters appeared in the music video for
Latrice Royale
Timothy K. Wilcots (born February 12, 1972), better known by the stage name Latrice Royale, is an American drag performer, recording artist, and reality television personality. She is best known for her appearances on the fourth season of ''RuPa ...
's "Excuse the Beauty" on May 10, 2018
and
Pandora Boxx
Michael R. Steck (born May 2, 1972), better known by the stage name Pandora Boxx, is an American drag queen, comedian, and reality television personality from Rochester, New York. Boxx competed in the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', pla ...
's "Oops I Think I Pooped" on September 24, 2018.
Masters featured on the single "And I Oop!" by
Adam Joseph
Adam Joseph (born Adam Joseph Hodges; January 10, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter, and music producer. Joseph has released two albums and 16 singles during his career. He is also the president of his own recording label, Jah Records. Jos ...
in June 2019.
She is also working on a podcast called ''The Wake and Bake'' with
Honey Davenport
James Heath-Clark (born August 13, 1985), known professionally as Honey Davenport, is an American drag queen, drag performer, singer, songwriter, actor and activist. Davenport was a longtime fixture of the New York City nightlife scene and came ...
.
In popular culture
A clip of Masters interrupting herself in shock, known as "And I Oop", became an
internet meme in 2019. It originated from a 2015 YouTube video named "Jasmine Masters handle your liquor". According to
Giphy
Giphy ( ), styled as GIPHY, is an American online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound that resemble animated GIF files.
History
Beginnings and early history
Giphy was founded ...
, Masters' "And I Oop" was the most used
gif of 2019, with over 419 million views. Masters also trademarked the term.
Discography
Singles
As featured artist
Filmography
Movies
Television
Music videos
Web series
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters, Jasmine
1977 births
Living people
African-American drag queens
LGBT African Americans
American YouTubers
LGBT people from California
American gay actors
Gay comedians
LGBT YouTubers
Jasmine Masters
Shorty Award winners
21st-century American LGBT people
American LGBT comedians