Diva RuPaul transforms himself into RudePaul at two nightspots

A Twin Cities photographer got an un-ladylike kick out of RuPaul on Saturday.

The statuesque pain in the drag seemed to have two orders of business at Trocaderos for "Splash Bash II," according to the event's host, Jason Matheson. "No. 1, strike a pose. No. 2, without missing a beat, strut over and kick that photographer in the head!" said Matheson, who works at Fox 9. "My co-host, Wanda Wisdom, and I kept saying to each other, 'Drama! Drama!' It had been a drama-free night until drag-queen-gone-wild took the stage."

On Wednesday, Hubert Bonnet, a photog for Lavender magazine, confirmed the kick with "Yes, he did. I was right next to the stage and taking photos. He came to me and I was looking through the view finder and he just kicked the camera."

At that moment, Bonnet didn't understand the diva's behavior. "Five minutes after, a bodyguard came to me and he said, We cannot have any professional photographers here. But they never told me" in advance. "He just kicked me in the camera."

Was Bonnet injured? "At the time, a little bit," Bonnet said in his heavenly French accent. "The camera butt[ed] my head, yeah. I didn't take any pictures; I left after that, actually."

Have been trying to get a comment from RuPaul since Tuesday through a veep at Central Entertainment Group, a NYC talent and booking agency, which has contact with the temperamental diva's agent.

Read on, as kicking Bonnet was not RuPaul's only misstep while here for Pride Weekend.

Lisa Thompson, Marie Berg and Monica Silbaugh were at the Gay 90's on Friday night to support their friend Maxi, a former Miss City of the Lakes, when they had an unfortunate encounter with RuPaul.

RuPaul, who was dressed as a man, was judging the 2008 Miss City of the Lakes contest, said Thompson, an attorney.

"He looked like he was having a good time the whole night. Then at 1:30 a.m., once he was done with the judging, he got up and was walking out. We were all excited; this was our great opportunity to meet him. We thought he was so fabulous and we were singing that song to each other," Thompson said, laughing with Berg on our conference call.

They were talking about "Supermodel (You better work)," the one hit from one-hit-wonder RuPaul.

Thompson said they were not obnoxious or drunk as RuPaul walked by on the way to his dressing room.

Said Thompson: "RuPaul just stood there, just didn't say anything."

What's there to say when your pit bull is working it, girl?

"I looked at him and said, 'Can I take your picture?' His other dude was like, NO PICTURES! He was just so rude," Thompson said. "It didn't make any sense to me."

Said Berg: "It's not like there was a crowd of people looking to get with The RuPaul. It was just really rude and unpleasant."

Now, they must know he's a famously moody diva. (Snap snap.) "Oh sure," said Berg, who thought the diva in RuPaul only came out when he was in drag.

Was she just kidding? Christopher Hopkins is still not sure whether his beezer was being yanked by "Today" show co-host Kathie Lee Gifford.

The co-owner of ReVamp! SalonSpa taped a segment for the show to promote his book "Staging Your Comeback: A Complete Beauty Revival for Women Over 45." But he was disappointed to report Wednesday that it won't air on KARE this morning. You might be able to catch it on the Web.

Gifford and her new best friend and co-host Hoda Kotb interviewed Hopkins. "I feel like Kathie Lee was sort of playing devil's advocate about my choices. And after Hoda said she liked my book, [Gifford said], Yes, it's nice, but it's all bunk, but it's nice. I decided she was kidding, but I'm not actually sure that she was."

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. More of her attitude can be seen on FoxX 9 Thursday mornings.