Ginger Minj Pays Tribute To Drag Mom Bette Midler With Spooky Music Video

October 7, 2022
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Ginger Minj is getting the spooky season in full swing with a spirited new take on a Halloween classic.

On Friday, the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum unveiled the music video for her jazzy version of “I Put a Spell on You” from the movie “Hocus Pocus.” The song’s release coincides with Minj’s appearance in the film’s much-buzzed-about sequel, which debuted on Disney+ last week.

The clip features Minj in full Winifred Sanderson drag, alongside queens Gidget Galore and MR MS Adrien as sister witches Mary and Sarah, respectively.

Fans of 1993’s “Hocus Pocus,” which starred Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker as the Sanderson sisters, will find a number of the movie’s iconic scenes faithfully recreated ― albeit with a modern polish.

Watch the video for “I Put a Spell on You” below.

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsu8gOXYJ-M?rel=0&enablejsapi=1]

“It’s the season of the witch!” Minj, whose real name is Joshua Allen Eads, told HuffPost in an interview. “You can walk into any gay bar in the country between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, and most likely you’ll find a trio of queens lip-syncing this song. I thought: ‘It’s been 29 years, let’s give it a little facelift!’”

The “I Put a Spell on You” video is directed by Minj’s husband, CeeJay Russell, also a longtime “Hocus Pocus” devotee.

“I have always wanted to direct my husband in a video,” Russell said in an email, “and when he asked me, I jumped at the opportunity.”

Minj, a Florida native, was a finalist on the seventh season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which aired in 2015. Since then, she’s released three studio albums and appeared in a number of movies, including Netflix’s “Dumplin,’” starring Jennifer Aniston and Danielle Macdonald.

“She’s my new drag mom,” Minj said of her "Hocus Pocus 2" co-star Bette Midler.
“She’s my new drag mom,” Minj said of her “Hocus Pocus 2” co-star Bette Midler.

Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images

In fact, it was Minj’s work on “Dumplin’” that led to her “Hocus Pocus 2” casting. Last year, she was performing as sea witch Ursula in a “Disney Villains” show in England when she received a call from “Dumplin’” director Anne Fletcher, who’d recently been hired to direct “Hocus Pocus 2.”

“Next thing I know, I’m arguing on-camera with Bette Midler about teeth,” quipped Minj, who appears as a drag version of Winifred Sanderson in the film alongside two other “Drag Race” veterans, Kahmora Hall and Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté, as Sarah and Mary Sanderson.

As to what she learned from working with the Divine Miss M herself, she added: “She’s my new drag mom.”

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