‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: Sahara Davenport (Antoine Ashley) dead; cause unknown

There’s some sad news breaking from the world of Logo and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” as former contestant Sahara Davenport has been found dead. There are not many details available about what happened here just yet, but Davenport (whose real name is Antoine Ashley) was still in his late twenties and there were no known public reasons as to why he could have passed away.

The news was made official courtesy of this statement from Logo Tuesday:

“Logo is profoundly saddened by the passing of Antoine Ashley who fans around the world knew and loved as Sahara Davenport,” read the statement … He was an amazing artist and entertainer who’ll be deeply missed by his Logo family. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family, especially his boyfriend Karl, in their time of need.”

Karl Westerberg appeared on the third season of the show as Manila Luzon, and actually made it all of the way to the end of the competition before finishing in second pace to Raja. Away from the show, Davenport was well-known in the club music scene, and even had a song known as “Get Off” that charted on one of Billboard’s genre charts.

As for RuPaul himself, he posted the following statement expressing his sadness on his Twitter account:

“Shocked & heartbroken over @SaharaDavenport. Never occurred to me that we’d ever lose one of my girls. I see them as immortal.”

This news comes as particularly sad to us in that “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” much more than many other series within the reality-competition genre, has always been one to embrace and celebrate its contestants rather than demean them and emphasize drama. With this in mind, we hope that the rest of the contestants continue to remember Davenport for the spirit and the fun that he brought to the world.