One of Australia’s best-known and loved drag queens, Sydney’s Maxi Shield, has died after being diagnosed with throat cancer, prompting tributes from around the world.
Kristopher Elliot, who performed drag under the name Maxi Shield, was 51. Shield was a mainstay of the Sydney drag scene and brought Australian drag to the world as contestant in season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.
Shield revealed she had throat cancer in September, which forced her to step down from performing in a Kath & Kim show at Edinburgh fringe with a fellow Drag Race Down Under season one alum, Art Simone.
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She returned to performing at the Oxford Hotel and Palms on the gay strip of Oxford Street in Sydney this month, and was set to host a sold-out Mardi Gras viewing party at the Oxford Hotel on Saturday.
“I loved this queen,” the Down Under host, Michelle Visage, posted on Instagram. “A glorious human on the inside and out. Your love, heart, talent and energy will be missed…. @maxishield rest in power, my angel, you were truly one of a kind.”
Mardi Gras said in a Facebook post that the news was devastating. “They were an icon and pillar of our community and we would like to take a moment to recognise all that Maxi stood for. This Mardi Gras will feel undeniably different with a space and light shining in her honour.”
Dillon Shaw, the licensee for Universal club on Oxford Street, said in a Facebook post that Shield was an iconic presence who had worked across every queer venue in Sydney.
“This Mardi Gras will feel different,” Shaw said. “It will be more solemn, as so many of us gather carrying the space left by her smile, her quick wit, and her remarkable spirit.
“Maxi was a big personality with a heart of gold. I’m heartbroken that the world won’t get to see this legend light up a stage again, and that I won’t get to share another giggle over lunch with my friend.”
Simone said the news was heartbreaking. “You were an inspiration, a warm heart, a cheeky girl and an absolute drag legend,” she said in an Instagram post. “I’m just fortunate I got to call you a sister and share so many special moments with you.”
Shield appeared in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and, at a time when there was conservative pushback against drag queen story time events for children, she continued to hold them.
“They ask, ‘How come you’ve got a dress on?’ and we say, ‘We like it and we like to sparkle,’” she told SBS News in 2023. “And then there’s no prejudice, they say, ‘OK, can I have a balloon?’”
