THE TRYING GAME: Stretching gender-bending too far?...

THE TRYING GAME: Stretching gender-bending too far? Pop singing drag queen RuPaul, last seen on the MTV Awards show sparring with comic Milton Berle, may be the first artist submitted for Grammy nominations in two different gender categories--pop male and pop female.

But recording academy representative Ellen Erin won’t go along with Tommy Boy Records’ idea. Erin’s edict: Tommy Boy, which is RuPaul’s label, has to pick one category or the other. So the label and RuPaul’s management chose male. But the reason, they say, is not the just because RuPaul is male. Tommy Boy publicist Laura Hynes says, “He’d have a better chance in the male category. There’d be too many divas in the other category.”

And what are the 6-foot-9 star’s chances for a Grammy nomination? Quipped Hynes: “He has a great shot considering he’s head and shoulders above the competition.”