Drag Queen vs. Britney Spears
August 4, 1999
Britney Spears may be an idol to millions of teens, but she's got one less drag-queen devotee.
Robert Stephens, a 24-year-old Southern California nightclub performer, is vowing to ditch his Spears act after a hoped-for summit with the object of his profession turned into "one of the worst experiences of my life."
Here's the deal: Last Thursday, Stephens topped about 30 hopefuls in a Los Angeles-area Britney Spears look-alike contest. The other competitors were mostly youthful--and exclusively female.
"I was afraid I wouldn't win because they'd want to go with something cute," Stephens says.
But little girls proved no match for the man in pigtails. Stephens won--and claimed the event's grand prize: Four tickets and a limo ride to Spears' Saturday show at the Universal Amphitheater.
"My goal was to get Britney and Britney together," he says, explaining his dream photo-op. "That was my goal."
To that end, Stephens--a Disneyland performer, by day--again dolled up like Britney, down to the ex-Mouseketeer's pigtails and tummy-bearing Oxford shirt (think: The video clip for "...Baby One More Time"). In the company of three friends (two of whom he billed as his "dancers"), Faux Britney embarked on his quest to meet Real Britney.
Then, according to Stephens, the un-fun began.
It seems Stephens' Faux Britney was so convincing, he fooled an E! Entertainment Television camera crew, which wired him up for a backstage interview, thinking it was her. For his part, Stephens says he thought the E! people were Extra people who wanted to talk to him about winning the look-alike contest.
In any case, a woman whom Stephens believes to be a publicist for Spears' record label saw the Faux Britney about to do the sit-down and "flipped out."
"She didn't want anyone getting attention other than Britney," Stephens says, adding, "and I wasn't trying to steal Britney's thunder."
In short order, Stephens says, the flack gave him flak, attempted to revoke his backstage pass, and, after the show, asked his party to vamoose via a back exit. And, no, he never did get to meet Real Britney.
"I know there was some confusion as to his access," says Denise Crew, spokeswoman for Sprint PCS, a sponsor of the fan promotion.
While a meet-and-greet with Spears was not guaranteed, Crew says, "obviously I'm disappointed he didn't get to fulfill his wish."
Stephens is reserving most of his ire for the Spears camp.
"I am so soured on Britney Spears [even if] for all I know the girl had no idea this was going on," he says.
Today, a spokeswoman for Jive Records blamed Sprint for not informing the singer's camp that a lookalike winner would be backstage. "Britney does meet and greet her fans," the rep says, adding that Spears, in particular, would "love" to meet Stephens. (No meeting has yet been arranged.)
Still, the way a miffed Stephens sees it now, he's never going to buy another Spears record, never going to phone in another Spears request to a radio station and never, ever going to watch another Spears music video.
Most striking is Stephens' pledge to drag Britney out of his drag out--particularly considering Britney is his act. Stephens is a one-woman drag queen. Or was. His emotional connection with Spears is "most definitely" severed. And besides, he says, "I'm not giving her anymore press."
"I just want her people to let her know they shouldn't treat her fans like that," Stephens says. "If she does not want her fans treated that way, she needs to clean some house."
As for Stephens, he is going to be clean house, take a time-out from the nightclub act and possibly plot a return to the stage as Billie Piper--the Britney Spears of the United Kingdom, he explains.
Says Stephens: "She's huge in Britain."
Britney who?
