Kyne (drag queen)

Kyne Santos, often mononymously billed as Kyne, is a Canadian drag queen best known for competing in the first season of Canada's Drag Race.^[1]

Santos, a math student at the University of Waterloo, is of Filipino descent.^[2] Prior to competing in Canada's Drag Race, Kyne had a following in drag circles for a series of tutorials on sewing and wig styling.^[3]

Although Kyne was eliminated from Canada's Drag Race in the second episode, and got the "villain edit" because his self-confidence was perceived by some viewers as lapsing into cockiness,^[4] he subsequently became a popular figure on social media, attracting over 800,000 followers on TikTok with a popular series of math tutorials presented in drag.^[5] The math videos have included straightforward presentations on general mathematical concepts such as pi and googol, math riddles and memes, and in-depth analysis of the use of mathematics in the news, such as demonstrating the numerical flaws in bad reporting on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and race-based crime statistics.^[2] For Fierté Montréal's special online edition of its annual Drag Superstars show, which featured all of the Canada's Drag Race queens in prerecorded video performances, Kyne performed an original math-themed rap parody of Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy wit It".

Santos has described his math tutorials as inspired by a desire to present math in a fun and entertaining way, rather than the typically dry and boring manner in which it's often taught in school, and by a desire to break down barriers, including countering common stereotypes that LGBTQ people cannot succeed in maths and sciences, and presenting a counterexample to the widespread belief that people can be analytical or creative but not both.^[5]

In January 2021, Santos also shared his coming out story in a new video for the ongoing It Gets Better Project.^[6]

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