RuPaul's Drag Race star Peppermint joins God Friended Me as trans pastor
Peppermint has added a sweet acting credit to her growing filmography, and EW has an exclusive first look at the upcoming gig.
The Broadway actress, LGBTQ activist, and RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 runner-up has joined the cast of CBS’ returning dramedy God Friended Me, portraying a transgender pastor in a two-episode arc beginning Sunday, Oct. 6.
Peppermint boards the Brandon Micheal Hall-led program as Pastor Olivia, the leader of an LGBTQ-friendly congregation Ali (series regular Javicia Leslie) joins after leaving her father’s (Joe Morton) Harlem Episcopal Church. Hall fronts the series as Miles, an atheist podcaster whose life drastically changes after receiving a Facebook friend request from God.
“This role is proof that we’ve come so far. A transgender pastor is not something you’d see being written or cast even five years ago,” Peppermint exclusively tells EW about the role. “This season, they are raising the bar both in front and behind the camera. You ain’t ready, y’all!”
Since finishing RuPaul’s Drag Race season 9 in second place, Peppermint — who became the first Drag Race contestant to enter the competition as an out transgender woman — has appeared in multiple roles on stage and screen, including guest spots on Pose and Saturday Night Live in addition to becoming the first trans woman to originate a principal role on Broadway in the 2018 Go-Go’s-themed musical Head Over Heels.
“Coming out for anyone lifts a weight off your shoulders… coming out on the show to the girls was something I couldn’t wait to do, but I didn’t want to do it upfront. I wanted to let my drag speak for itself first, and then see how people received it,” Peppermint previously told EW of her experience discussing her identity on national television. “Once I was able to have these conversations with the girls, I felt wonderful; I felt loved and accepted. I felt like we were having a very important conversation, not because it was spawned by me, but having this conversation is important to have for drag queens, for Drag Race, for television, and ultimately for our country.”
God Friended Me season 2 premieres Sunday, Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. (due to Sunday Night Football), while Peppermint’s episode airs in the show’s regular time slot on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 8:00 p.m. See EW’s exclusive photos from the episode above.
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