Openly gay soccer player Josh Cavallo ‘thrilled’ to join Drag Race as a guest judge -TGN

Josh Cavallo has a new gig: judging RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. (Josh Cavallo/World of Wonder/Stan)

Australian footballer Josh Cavallo has carved a place in queer history by joining the judging panel RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under season three.

When 23-year-old Cavallo came out as gay in October 2021, he changed the world of football, becoming the game’s only current top male soccer player to be openly queer. It was a seismic moment for the sport, which has a disturbing history of entrenched homophobia.

Homophobic chanting at football matches is common even today, with Kick It Out, the sport’s largest anti-discrimination campaign group, recently revealing a record number of reports of discrimination during the 2022/2023 football season.

Less than two years after coming out, Cavallo is once again paving the way, making the game weirder friendlier by the day. He has just been announced as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under season three, becoming the first gay football player to sit next to RuPaul on the giant drag reality show.

Cavallo joins American pop superstar Adam Lambert, Love Simon actor Keiynan Lonsdale and New Zealand model Rachel Hunter as guest judges on the prestigious panel. Michelle Visage and non-binary Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson return as permanent judges.

Speaking of his stint as one Drag race judge, Cavallo said he was “excited” to be part of a show that “inspires” people in the LGBTQ+ community to be themselves.

“As the only openly gay male professional soccer player in the world currently playing top-flight soccer, I’m a huge fan of embracing your true self, but for many in the sport and queer community, this is really hard to do,” Cavallo explained.

“This is why RuPaul’s Drag Race is so important because it inspires queer people to be their authentic selves, and makes drag more accepted and celebrated as it should be.”

Cavallo’s legendary appearance on the panel has already taken place shocked some fansconsidering that not so long ago the worlds of sport and drag certainly didn’t intersect.

“JOSH CAVALLO?!?!” one person screamed through the keyboard. “With that being said, can we please have more sports icons!”

“So damn proud of this young dude,” gushed a second social media user.

“Josh Cavallo guest judging Drag Race Down Under season three? Oh, we cheered,” wrote a third.

Football fields around the world are gradually becoming more accepting of the queer community, with England’s Football League One player Jake Daniels due out in May 2022 – becoming the UK’s only male professional footballer to be openly gay since Justin Fashanu.

Still, some strife remains between the two worlds. When British football star David Beckham became the face of the World Cup in anti-LGBTQ+ country Qatar last year, the alleged queer ally saw strong reactions.

In a hugely successful PR stunt, comedian Joe Lycett threatened to shred £10,000 unless Beckham withdrew his support for the tournament. Drag racing UK queens Black Peppa and Cheddar Gorgeous, meanwhile, scorned him for failing to show whether his “ally went beyond words into deeds.”

Cavallo himself lashed out at FIFA after the Football Association chose to penalize players who wore rainbow OneLove bracelets in support of LGBTQ+ people during the World Cup.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Down below – which has received a mixed response from fans, after some controversial contestants were previously cast – will return to BBC iPlayer in the UK and Stan in Australia on July 28.

The third season stars queens like Ivanna Drink, Rita Menu, Hollywould Star, and Flor.