Eight-time Emmy winner RuPaul paid tribute to his ‘dear friend’ – singer-dancer Ari Gold – after he passed away, 47, following a battle with leukemia.
‘Lovely, Gentle Man @SirAriGold,’ the 60-year-old drag icon – who boasts 7.7M social media followers – tweeted on Sunday.
‘Until we meet again, dear friend. @SirAriGold Love always, Ru.’
RIP: Eight-time Emmy winner RuPaul (L, pictured in 2018) paid tribute to his ‘dear friend’ – singer-dancer Ari Gold (R) – after he passed away, 47, following a battle with leukemia
RuPaul (last name Charles) knew Ari since 2002, and he reposted their year-old conversation on his podcast, A Kiki From the Cancer Ward.
Back in 2007, Gold portrayed Tyrone Cohen in Mike Ruiz’s cult comedy Starrbooty, which starred the RuPaul’s Drag Race host in the titular role.
The Bronx native is best known for his 2007 track Where the Music Takes You, which charted on Billboard’s Top 10 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart.
Ari has sung with Diana Ross and Cyndi Lauper, collaborated with Boy George, and opened for Chaka Khan.
The 60-year-old drag icon – who boasts 7.7M social media followers – tweeted on Sunday: ‘Lovely, Gentle Man @SirAriGold’
‘Until we meet again, dear friend. @SirAriGold Love always, Ru’: RuPaul knew Ari since 2002, and he reposted their year-old conversation on his podcast, A Kiki From the Cancer Ward
Mourning: Back in 2007, Gold portrayed Tyrone Cohen in Mike Ruiz’s cult comedy Starrbooty, which starred the RuPaul’s Drag Race host in the titular role (pictured in 2018)
Gold’s music was featured in NBC’s Scrubs and ABC’s Cougar Town, and he voiced cartoons in Jem and the Holograms and Cabbage Patch Kids.
Daytime Emmy Award winner Laverne Cox shared a montage in honor of the NYU grad, whom she’s known since the nineties.
‘So many people have come and gone from my life over the past 25 years but you have been a constant,’ the 48-year-old transgender trailblazer wrote via Instagram.
‘As I’ve grown and evolved, you evolved with me. The spiritual journey we’ve both been on has made it clear why we’ve remained in each other’s lives for so long. I’m so utterly devastated that you’ve moved on today.
Claim to fame: The Bronx native is best known for his 2007 track Where the Music Takes You, which charted on Billboard’s Top 10 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Chart (pictured in 2009)
‘I won’t let cancer ruin every day’: Ari has sung with Diana Ross and Cyndi Lauper, collaborated with Boy George, and opened for Chaka Khan (pictured in 2019)
‘#chemo’: Gold’s music was featured in NBC’s Scrubs and ABC’s Cougar Town, and he voiced cartoons in Jem and the Holograms and Cabbage Patch Kids (pictured in 2019)
‘But I know you’ll be watching over me as you always have. I’m so grateful to have known you. I’m better because you have been a part of my life. My brother! I love you so much! Rest in power!’
Dirty Sexy Money alum Candis Cayne – who used to be BFFs with Caitlyn Jenner – tweeted of Ari: ‘All the love. RIP my gorgeous friend.’
RuPaul’s Drag Race #9 runner-up Miss Peppermint wrote about how she and Gold were ‘tied together through our love of music Madonna and Wonder Woman.’
‘I’m so utterly devastated’: Daytime Emmy Award winner Laverne Cox shared a montage in honor of the NYU grad, whom she’s known since the nineties
Dirty Sexy Money alum Candis Cayne – who used to be BFFs with Caitlyn Jenner – tweeted of Ari: ‘All the love. RIP my gorgeous friend’
‘You inspired and mentored me in ways that you will never know,’ the 41-year-old Broadway thespian wrote via Instagram.
‘Right now I so desperately want the world to know everything you did. I want them to celebrate you. You understood and were open and you got it before anyone else ever did and I love you for always centering me.’
Emmy-nominated YouTuber Randy Rainbow tweeted that he ‘only ever spent a few hours’ with the Wave of You singer, but ‘his beautiful energy stayed with me.’
‘You mentored me’: RuPaul’s Drag Race #9 runner-up Miss Peppermint wrote about how she and Gold were ‘tied together through our love of music Madonna and Wonder Woman’
‘Incredibly sad to see this’: Emmy-nominated YouTuber Randy Rainbow tweeted that he ‘only ever spent a few hours’ with the Wave of You singer, but ‘his beautiful energy stayed with me’