Geneva Karr reveals why she kissed Mhi'ya before 'Drag Race' exit

Before she (unfortunately) kissed RuPaul's Drag Race goodbye, season 16 queen Geneva Karr drove her luscious lips right onto those of Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige in a beautiful move of unyielding sisterly love.

It was a bittersweet sendoff for Geneva at the tail end of Friday night's episode, which ended in spectacular fashion with some, uh, questionable fashion. Geneva met her end after the second design challenge of the season that saw the queens making outfits for themselves and tiny dolls in their likeness, and, after guest judge Law Roach likened Geneva's look to that of a "horror queen" below the neck, the Latina goddess sadly sashayed away from the competition.

In EW's Quick Drag podcast (above), Geneva — who powerfully opened up about her status as a DACA queen earlier this season — explains her process for creating the look, why she staunchly stood against Plane Jane's attempted hijacking of her dress material, what message she has for other Dreamers, and why she decided to kiss Mhi'ya for so long on the Main Stage.

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

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It was sad to see you go, unfortunately it was another design challenge. It appeared that you questioned at the beginning, what your look would be. What was your original vision, and how long had you spent on the original design before switching?

GENEVA KARR: I spent a couple of hours on the first look, then I realized I might not have enough material to move on to the doll. I started to second-guess. It would be La Diva Mas Latina, of course, it would’ve been perfect, but the lack of sleep, the stress, everything got to me. Everybody was working on big garments. I was like, should I go big? It just didn’t play out in my favor. I feel like if I would’ve stuck to my gut and adjusted the outfit I was working on, I would probably have been safe.

After Amanda Tori Meating left last week, there was speculation on who would be Plane Jane’s new target, and she tried to come over to you to take some material, but you clocked it real fast. What made you put your guard up so fast?

I knew she was trying to play the game no matter what the cost was. Amanda was gone and she wanted to try to come on to me, but she forgets I’m a lot older and wiser than she is. I was like, no, take your helicopter airplane wings over there and find another target. I’m keeping this fabric just because you want it. She wanted to have a moment and I let her know that I’m not the one to try it with, and she understood quickly and navigated on to her next destination.

How did you feel when it was revealed what she said about you, Hershii, and Plasma in Russian?

I found out when you all found out. I didn’t know what she said. I was laughing, I wish I would’ve known what she said so I could’ve read her in Spanish.

What would you have said?

Something like, “Puta sucio culo abierto.”

Are you going to tell me what that means?

It just means that she’s a whore and her butt is really open. [Laughs] I thought it was fun, I know people were gagged, but I thought it was funny. It’s not going to hurt my feelings, I grew up in the pageant world. To really get under [my skin] is going to take a lot, and she does not have the weapons to do so.

Law Roach read you all on the runway. I feel like I can tell the difference now between a happy Geneva face and a plucked Geneva face. I think we saw the latter — how did you feel when he said you looked like a “horror queen” below the neck?

I was like, damn, I guess I auditioned for the wrong show. If he’s going to read me, I wanted him to read me, because Law Roach is known for that, it would be iconic. Can I really be mad? Because, from the neck up he kind of complimented me. From the neck down, it can be adjusted…. I was a little bit upset, of course, but not as much as the two prior times where you could tell I was on fire.

One of them was in the first lip-sync with Plane where it looked like she hit you with her hair.

It took a lot of strength for that wig not to get caught in my fingers and accidentally off her head. I was pissed, like, "Okay, don’t pull the wig, Geneva." I was a little bothered because I’m like, you had all that space over there, you had to come get in front of me, and smack me with your synthetic wig. It would’ve been sickening if I pulled it but then people would’ve been like, "Drag is not a contact sport."

Mhi'Ya Iman Le'Paige and Geneva Karr kiss on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'.
MTV

In Hershii’s exit interview, I asked her about this, because it looked briefly like she was going to sit on you. What would you have done if Hershii did that, because she said she considered it.

If Hershii had sat on my face, it would have been half a second and I would have been on top of her wrestling, because I have good strength. A friendly turn-over, turning over a new leaf, as Plane would say, in a friendly way. I wouldn’t have injured her, but of course gotten her off of me!

It was sweet when you gave Mhi’ya a long kiss after the lip-sync. Why that was the gesture you wanted to give her in that moment?

I felt like Mhi’ya and myself had been in the bottom so many weeks in a row, and we’d just come off a win together. Her staying over me, Mhi’ya is a queen I got close to, she’s my bestie from the show. I wanted her to know that I was okay and not to worry about my feelings because I’m fine, and for her to send a couple other bitches home for me, hopefully, and try to win everything for the both of us.

What ran through your head as Ru made the decision?

I was kind of like, okay, I can finally get off this roller coaster of emotions, I don’t have to be stressed about the next week or if they’ll love what I’m delivering. I got this far, and I did the damn thing, and not that many people can say that…. I was excited to get to see how my father was doing because he’d just had surgery before I went on the show. That weighed on my mind in the competition. I was even considering not going because I helped pay for his surgery, and I was short on money. I took whatever I could, and that’s why I was upset a lot of the time, because I didn’t really bring what I wanted to, but I’m going to do the most with what I can. I was excited to see how he was doing, and that’s why I wasn’t giving up, but relieved to check on him.

I’m glad to hear he’s okay. One thing I’m not glad about, after our interviews about the styled leg hair, you didn’t do it on the show! Why not?

I did consider doing the leg hair for the doll challenge. However, with the time I had, it wasn’t possible for me to completely make a new outfit and completely also style my legs at the same time, because it takes time. Do I focus on my legs and not finish my makeup? There’s always All Stars, right?

You and Xunami opened up about being DACA queens. What has the response been like to that moment, and do you have a message for others trying to come to this country to pursue their dreams?

I’ve received a lot of messages, people thanking me for shining light on national television and for representing all of us…. Also at shows, they show up and get emotional and tear up, and then get me emotional and teared up…. They show me their DACA cards and they’re like, “Take a picture with me with the card!” A message to people that would potentially come to the U.S., be very careful, they’re not issuing any more DACA cards out there, so be careful. But, if it’s your dream, follow your dreams, never give up. I’ve certainly never given up. I’m proof of the American dream that my parents set out for myself. If you can vote for us, vote so we can continue to exist and renew our DACA cards, because we have to renew them every two years and just feel safe, because this is all we know and it allows us to work and be here and be on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

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.

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