Watch “Together Again” HERE
Photo by: Davide Laffe
Video Release Celebrates Janet’s Birthday and Honors
Recent Transgender HIV Testing Day
Los Angeles, CA – May 16, 2024 - Peppermint - the trailblazing actress, singer, reality star, and activist who continues to defy limitations has had a rousing start to 2024 with her star turn roaming through the castle on the hugely popular Peacock series, “The Traitors” to gracing the stage with Madonna a few weeks back on The Celebrationion Tour. Watch Here.
Peppermint and Madonna in Houston, TX Photo by: Ricardo Gomes
In celebration of Janet Jackson’s birthday today as well as honoring the recent Transgender HIV Testing Day (April 18), Peppermint proudly releases another special video tribute for her all-time favorite pop artist and icon. Peppermint’s dance tribute video of Janet’s deeply personal song/video "Together Again" HERE was a labor of love as Peppermint re-created the video almost frame-for-frame with costuming, dancers and all.
The “Together Again” video is Peppermint’s third dance video tribute, and has extra special meaning tied to Janet’s original 1997 release which was written as a tribute to a friend who had recently died of AIDS as well as AIDS victims and their families worldwide.
“When “Together Again” came out I remember being captivated by the colors, the costumes, the choreography and the setting. Later, I learned about the inspiration of the song and the message and that despite sadness and loss, we will be reunited with the people we love and the people who loved us. Janet talks about a friend who had died of AIDS and wanted to shine a light on communities impacted by AIDS/HIV and even donating proceeds to AIDS charities.It's also not lost on me that the video takes place in a sort of dream version of Africa which continues to be disproportionately affected by AIDS/HIV due to lack of resources, funding and attention. This music video shows all types of people from all demographics connecting with each other, the land and the animals, the original music video even featured elephants and giraffes from Michael Jackson's personal Zoo. It's important for me to use my platform to bring attention to communities that are still disproportionately affected by HIV in the United States including communities of color, black women and black Trans women specifically.I've always been personally inspired by Janet Jackson and her artistry. Paying tribute is tough enough; recreating the videos with a fraction of resources was also difficult. Where we lacked in resources we overflowed in love. Learning the choreography and shooting the video in less than 24 hours thanks to an awesome crew and director, Assad. I hope people enjoy this video knowing that it was made with love and that no animals were harmed in the filming of this music video, that's because we couldn't afford to get any animals.” states Peppermint
Peppermint’s previous tribute videos include “Rhythm Nation” HERE – “In a time where politics and discrimination divide us, “Rhythm Nation” seems like the perfect song to bring back. The “Rhythm Nation” creed was music, dance, poetry and unity. In an interview Janet mentioned wanting to create a world where people are united by our passions for the Arts and not divided by racism and discrimination and colorism, so in an effort to erase the color lines Janet created the music video in black and white and all of the performers in a military, gender neutral appearance. Obviously, we wanted to pay tribute to that, but this time I wanted to make sure there were non-binary and trans performers in the mix.” And, Janet’s “If” HERE - “Janet Jackson has always been an icon and I've always idolized her. Whether gathering High School football players as reluctant dancers, teaching the routine at a summer camp talent show or putting together some of my own shows, I have always modeled my live performances after Janet's but up until this moment most of those are just memories with nothing to show and no way to look back on. Now that I have the ability, I wanted to do those performances justice. I gathered a bunch of friends who are also big fans of Janet to put together a dance tribute video of "If" from her 1993 album: Janet. Happy Birthday Miss Jackson!! – Peppermint
“If” caught the attention of Miss Janet herself with the icon posting her appreciation on her socials HERE
Up next for Peppermint, she is set to return in her recurring guest starring role in Michelle Buteau’s Netflix series, “Survival of The Thickest.” Shooting is expected to begin in the summer.
About Peppermint: A longtime key figure in queer nightlife, actress & singer Peppermint regularly performs to sold-out crowds around the world. She has released six albums; Hardcore Glamour, Servin’ It Up, Sugar & Spiked,Black Pepper , A Girl Like Me: Letters To My Lovers and Moment of Weakness: Letters To My Lovers available on all streaming platforms - https://bio.to/PEPPERMINT.
Peppermint’s star continues to rise thanks to her smashing success as the first out trans contestant to be cast on RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 9) where she finished as runner-up in one of the series’ most-talked-about finales Click Here Soon after, her talent led her to become the first trans woman to originate a principal musical role (Pythio) on Broadway in the hit Head Over Heels and in 2024 as the first trans woman to compete in the hit series, “The Traitors” on Peacock.
Recent projects include; galavanting on stage with Madonna on her recent Celebration Tour, recurring role in the Netflix series, Survival of the Thickest with comedian Michelle Buteau, Stand-up comedy special Peppermint: So-SIGH-ety Effects, starring role in “A Transparent Musical” at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, guest starred in Hulu’s hit rom-com movie, "Fire Island" alongside Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang, Joel Kim Booster & Margaret Cho, co-star in OUTtv’s “Call Me Mother”drag competition series, co-host of Amazon Prime talk show “Translation,” guest star in season one & two of Amazon’s “Harlem,” hosted (New York & San Francisco) and presented (Los Angeles) at the 2020 & 2022 GLAAD Media Awards, hosting/moderating Black Queer Town Hall and Town Hall podcast with co-creator Bob The Drag Queen, guest appearance on Ryan Murphy’s Emmy award winning series “Pose,” recurring role on the CBS series “God Friended Me” and a guest role on the Fox scripted drama “Deputy.”
Peppermint, who is the ACLU’s first-ever Artist Ambassador for Trans Justice HERE has raised six-figure sums for prominent LGBT rights groups, partnered with MAC Cosmetics’ “M.A.C. AIDS Fund” and is involved in the HIV Vaccine trials network. She partnered with RuPaul Drag Race Winner Sasha Velour for a college speaking tour that focused on the challenges faced by transgender and non-binary people in today’s political climate among various other topics. Peppermint takes every available opportunity to speak at universities and to various communities on the issues.
Peppermint was nominated for a 2022 GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Online Journalism category for her contribution to the Discovery+ “Legendary” series. Previous honors include; GLAAD Media Award nomination alongside Lady Gaga & Kehlani for Outstanding Music Artist (2021), “Best Songwriter” by World of Wonder’s Wowie Awards 2020, Conde Nast’s “Queeroes” award (2018), Variety’s prestigious “New Power of New York” list, and was named one of Out magazine’s “OUT100” portfolio of the most influential LGBTQ people of the year.
Check out Peppermint in all her fabulous glory HERE
Follow Peppermint here:
@peppermint247
For complete press materials/hi-res jpegs click HERE
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