RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race premiered on Friday, and in case you missed it, the lineup of the first episode featured Younger’s Nico Tortorella, Riverdale’s Jordan Connor, and comedian and former Superior Donuts star Jermaine Fowler. Fowler stole most of the episode (not including the lip sync, but hey, nobody’s perfect), particularly when it came to the show’s edition of Snatch Game where Fowler showed off his perfect Kevin Hart impersonation — done in drag, of course, as “Kevina Hart.†It was a risky choice for Fowler considering Hart spent much of late 2018 and early 2019 embroiled in controversy about his old homophobic tweets, but it ended up paying off hilariously. “Now, I understand how this looks. Don’t judge me. I’m rebranding myself, okay? I’m here to say I’m sorry,†Fowler said as Hart. “I messed up. I messed up a lot.†Kevina Hart has made mistakes, but she’s grown, she’s trying to be better, and thankfully, she was graciously forgiven by Ru.
Aside from Fowler’s Snatch Game performance, his time on the episode was also filled with the most heartfelt moments — moments that gave his performance as “Kevina Hart†a lot more meaning, too. Early in the episode, Fowler revealed that his mother, who passed away a year and a half ago, was a lesbian and big Drag Race fan who dealt with a lot of homophobia in her life. When Fowler got his first glimpse of himself in the mirror with makeup on, he got incredibly emotional when he realized how much he looked like his mother. “I did not win, but it’s actually really sweet I got to see my mom again — like, through me,†Fowler said at the end of the episode. “I’m never gonna forget this. I’m really happy I did this.†So are we, Jermaine.