RuPaul pays tribute to The Vivienne at DragCon

RuPaul paid tribute to late drag queen The Vivienne at RuPaul's DragCon on Friday.

The RuPaul's Drag Race UK host and head judge has spoken out days after the sudden death of the contestant, real name James Lee Williams, who died on 5 January at the age of 32.

Speaking at the opening of RuPaul's DragCon UK at ExCel London on Friday, the 64-year-old entertainer encouraged the audience to "celebrate life" following the death of his fellow drag queen.

"We are here to celebrate life and celebrate love and to spread it around," he said, reports MailOnline. "We want to focus on love."

The TV personality continued, "We are going to remember our dear The Vivienne with love and life, because that's what she was all about and she would love for you to live your lives and to be free and to have a lot of fun and spread it around."

Organisers of the event have set up a memorial wall and books of remembrance to allow fans to pay tribute to the late Welsh star.

The Vivienne was appointed the UK drag ambassador in 2015 for the U.S. version of RuPaul's Drag Race. They later won the first U.K. series in 2019 and competed in the All Stars edition in 2022.

Earlier this week, the legendary drag star paid tribute to The Vivienne on Instagram, writing, "With a broken heart, I join the entire Drag Race universe in mourning the loss of The Vivienne - an incredibly talented queen and a lovely human being."

The Vivienne's cause of death has not been revealed, however, local police are not treating it as suspicious.