Lushious Massacr Is Living Her Realness Era—and ‘Dragvestigating’ Her Way Through It

In 2024, a woman named Mimi, donning a black floor-length dress with a sheer overdress, a bold statement necklace, hoop earrings, a bob hairdo, and a touch of lipgloss, walked into a DD’s Discounts store in Brownsville, Texas. Equipped with a camera, wireless clip-on microphones, and a red purse, she had just one mission—to “Dragvestigate”!

Lushious Massacr, the Emmy Award-winning drag queen from the Rio Grande Valley, has taken the internet by storm with her popular YouTube series where she hilariously “exposes” retail shops, grocery stores, and more throughout Texas. While new audiences may see Massacr as an overnight sensation, the hilarious queen is anything but. Having worked years in the industry, Massacr, who personifies “gentle womanhood,” is embracing her moment, while honoring her roots in South Texas and continuing to put in the work to make a lasting impact on the culture and her community.

“[My drag origins] start with my drag mother, Divina Garza. I made videos  with her, running around Brownsville and doing drag makeup,” Massacr recalls. “Back then, I was more of a Club Kid. I would dress up for fun on the weekends and go out. It allowed me to access the femininity that made me feel beautiful, confident, attractive, and powerful.”

Massacr describes Brownsville as her “good luck charm” that she symbolically brings with her wherever she goes. “There’s so much beauty, culture, and undiscovered talent in Brownsville,” she says. “It has some of the most beautiful and charming drag in the world. It might be a little busted and freaky, but it’s hilarious and makes you smile.”

While her roots are planted firmly in the Rio Grande Valley, the artist explains that her drag persona was “born in the fires” of Houston. “The real birth of Lushious Massacr happened in Houston. The legendary, iconic queen Charro Beans DeBarge took me under her wing and was so supportive of my drag,” says Massacr. . . . She would make all my costumes and tell me, ‘Bitch, you are sickening. You’re so talented.’ She was such an inspiration and support for me.”

The artist still visits Houston regularly, recording social media content at stores such as IKEA and doing “person on the street” type interviews in Montrose with fellow queen Mistress Isabelle Brooks. The city is considered a second home to Massacr, who lived here for seven years in her twenties.

“I grew up there. The hardest years of my life were lived there,” she says. “I gave Houston every single part of my being. It took a part of my soul, kept it, and never gave it back. So much of who I am is because of Houston. I learned so much about how to really protect and defend myself, how to be confident and delusional.”

Massacr pays homage to the Houston drag community and credits it for showing her the ropes. “One of my very first gigs paid me $30 for four numbers. I was shook, because I had to come up with four different looks for 30 bucks! But I was so happy that I was getting booked in Houston and getting paid to do drag. It was a huge deal. These girls are pageant dolls and they spare no expense. They will ruin their credit, but they will make sure they’re well dressed. They will lose their home before they come out in a busted evening gown. These Houston queens give their heart and soul for drag.”

Today, Massacr resides in Brownsville and has amassed an enormous following on social media thanks to years of hard, dedicated work. In her “Dragvestigations” series, Massacr, who goes by “Mimi” in the videos, glides through aisle after aisle in drag, perusing the products on store shelves, eyeing the “trade,” and proclaiming such fan-favorite observations as, “They can’t handle the womanhood!”

The videos are wildly entertaining, but Massacr describes them as an act of rebellion as well: “These people are not used to a drag queen just walking up in there. I’m walking around unbothered, secure, and confident. I remember how dangerous that felt 15 years ago, and how it was this delusional, radical confidence that I had to walk in there and not feel small or out of place.”

Quotable phrases used throughout the videos such as brick, creature, don’t do it little girl, crossdresser, and bitter are just a few that have made Massacr’s videos so memorable. The queen explains the catchphrases are simply inspired by her everyday vernacular. “I am almost exclusively always surrounded by gay and trans people and that’s how we speak,” she says. “All of my friends are stars. They’re all characters and extremely charismatic, so whenever I get an opportunity, I always feature them in my videos.”

A favorite video of Massacr’s was filmed at DD’s Discounts in Brownsville and she explains that the “Dragvestigation” videos are a love letter to the women in her family. “My mom has seven sisters. When I choose my jewelry, bangles, dresses, and even my shoes I think, ‘My mom would wear that, my tía would wear that, my grandma would wear this dress.’ Mimi is that woman—the Mexican lady who spent all day with her kids and taking care of her man. She went out to go shopping with money from her man and she bought herself some things, and then she was out with her mom. That would be me if I had been born a female. I genuinely enjoy shooting these videos, presenting as the gentle doll.”

With no signs of slowing her hustle or resting on her laurels, she reflects, “I’ve always been a little bit ahead of the curve with social media. I don’t say it with arrogance, I just say it with confidence and security, because I have been doing this for a long time. I’m so glad that I’m at a point in my life where I’m visible and people are seeing what I’m doing and paying attention.” Massacr reflects on more than 15 years of making social media content and her newfound fame saying, “I feel very blessed and very grateful, because I know a lot of people who deserve it, and it never happened for them. As I navigate this whole new world of being an influencer, I always want to make sure that I shine a light on those undiscovered gems that never got their shot, because I know what that feels like.”

Currently, Massacr finds herself in her “realness era” and is exploring what it means to step out of her original drag persona and into the chanclas of a real woman. “That’s what attracts me and I’m exploring a completely different era of drag. I’m excited because it almost feels like I’m bringing mall drag back,” she says. “I’m in a rebellious stage right now where I am breaking it all apart and I’m falling in love with drag all over again. I’m not taking it seriously and I’m obsessed with imperfection right now—the things that the majority of people would say look busted or ugly. I’m obsessed with ugly. I’m okay with being imperfect, as long as I’m happy.”

Her social media videos are meant to be funny and illicit joy, but Massacr is also steadfast in using her notoriety to amplify messages and voices who need the platform. “I have to make sure that my videos represent something that I can be proud of, because I don’t want to just throw funny, irreverent, dumb things out there. I also need to make sure that there’s a little bit of a message so people pay attention and feel seen.”

Beginning her videos with a dedication to various communities is one way the queen accomplishes this. Massacr humorously offers OutSmart readers one such dedication saying, “I dedicate this to the ran-through dolls, because I know a lot of homosexuals out there who are ran through and they feel ashamed because they are ran through. And I’m telling you, baby, I see you. I respect you. I know you’re not well, honey, but I live for you, regardless if you’re run through and you’re destroyed.”

With goals of eventually starting a podcast and hiring a team of creatives to help handle video editing, which Massacr currently does on her own, the queen shares that her priority is making sure that she, her friends, and  fans are having fun. “As I get bigger and grow further in my career, I’m going to take these clothes with me, grab the hands of my friends who don’t have as big of a platform and take them with me. These are the people who helped build me, supported me, nurtured me, loved me, and been my friends.

“I’ve been doing this for such a long time that I’m at the point in my life where I’ve seen the other side of fame, glamour, money, success. Money doesn’t drive me. What really matters to me is the art, the quality of it,” she says. “I want to make sure it means something. I need to have my heart behind it and my voice has to be there. I want to create something that is good and I want to do something that is fun.”

Keep up with Lushious Massacr on Instagram @lushiousmassacr.