Deja Dubois was crowned Texas Entertainer of the Year F.I. 2025 on Sunday, Sept. 21, as the highlight of the pageant which this year capped off Pride in Dallas weekend. The event, presented by Zorn Universal Entertainment, was held in The Rose Room inside S4, and is the final preliminary leading to the National Entertainer of the Year F.I. contest being held in Louisville in November.
Deja Dubois won all four categories inb the pageant to claim the Texas EOY F.I. 2025 crown. First alternate honors went to Nirobi.
Outgoing titleholder Vivien Vee Lauren, Texas EOY F.I. 2024, passed on the crown in a “heartfelt farewell performance,” notes a press release about the evening, which adds that the evening also featured appearances by National EOY F.I. 2024 Genesis, the legendary Tasha Kohl who was Texas & National EOY F.I. 1991 and Mark Alan Smith, aka Nakoma Shaye, who took the stage to perform for the first time in eight years during the pageant and who also served on the judges’ panel.
Jenna Skyy, Miss Gay USofA 2014 and co-owner of the Miss Gay USofA pageant, returned for her second year as emcee.
Zorn, archbishop of Dallas Universal Life Church and executive director of Texas EOY F.I., said, “This competition represents more than entertainment; it represents resilience, creativity, and visibility in a time when our community is under attack from lawmakers at both the state and national level. Our winner embodies tradition, elegance and entertainment, and will carry the Texas legacy proudly to nationals in Louisville this November.”
— Tammye Nash
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