Before Justin Gordon became known as Jassy, now both his real-life and drag wrestling name, he went simply
by Juicy.
His older brothers (he’s the youngest of four) came up with the term of endearment when he was a roly-poly toddler. For a while it stuck. “It gave me this sense of notoriety that, as a kid, you don’t normally experience,” Jassy recalls.
It was in college when Juicy officially turned into Jassy, a transition sparked by a friend’s riffs on his original nickname. “I hated it,” he says—at least at first. But a year later, after deciding to enter Tulane University’s then annual drag competition, he realized he needed a stage name. Jassy kept popping up. “Most people did it as a joke,” he recalls, but the $300 cash prize inspired him to go all out: “I was corseted, in a wig and heels, and doing cartwheels.”
I like to get a reaction out of
Today, instead of doing gymnastics on a stage, he’s doing chin locks and backbreakers in a ring. In 2018, while also juggling a full-time job as a server for local restaurant group CureCo., Jassy and fellow performers Hugo Gyrl and Visqueen launched the two-hour-long, triannual, “XXXtreme” queer wrestling show Choke Hole. Unlike most people, though, Jassy doesn’t leave work at the office (or in this case, the warehouse). He brings it home.
“For a long time, I thought buying a house was inaccessible,” he says. But when the pandemic hit and he started thinking more about the future, he discovered government-backed FHA loans, which would allow him to put just 3.5 percent down on a place. Planting roots in his hometown became a real possibility. In October 2020 he closed on a move-in–ready, double-shotgun house: two identical, single-story dwellings that share a central wall. The style gets its name from the linear floor plan, which is only one room wide (there aren’t any hallways).
With Choke Hole on a hiatus at the time due to COVID (don’t worry, it’s picking up steam again; the group just got back from performing in Germany and hopes to make a return to Louisiana), Jassy was able to put all his creative energy into crafting his dream space. He brought in his engineer-savvy dad to help him make some basic renovations to the units (he and his best friend, Nicole, reside in one half, and he rents out the other). “I grew up watching him and learning a lot,” he recalls. “Every couple of years, he’d pick a son
and do a big project with us and teach us about tools and how to build things.”
Everything was fair game. “I love exposed brick. I love natural wood. But I also love crazy colors. I think both are valid,” he says of painting the original circa-1920 brick fireplace in his bedroom even after his mom told him not to. And while some might consider Nickelodeon orange bedding or a giant portrait of Michelangelo’s David featuring spray-foam hair and a pizza slice teardrop tattoo chaotic, for Jassy, living in a space rooted in fantasy is comforting. “I like to get a reaction out of people. That’s just a part of my personality,” he explains, a trait since he was a teenager.
I spent my life savings buying
When Jassy came out as gay during his freshman year at an all-boys Catholic high school in New Orleans, he experienced a new level of attention, and not always the good kind. “It put a target on my back,” he remembers. But in the face of negative comments, he let bold-face humor lead the way. (For example, whenever the Saints played, he donned a Randall Gay football jersey.)
An avid anime fan, Jassy hunts for furniture and objects that are purposefully cartoonish—and if he can’t find something, he’ll make it. “I spent my life savings buying the house, so I didn’t have much left to start filling it,” says the budding DIYer. He jazzed up the IKEA Ivar credenza in the entry by adding a marble top and cane cutout doors, and clad two soaring Pax cabinets from the Swedish retailer in mirrored panels, blue paint, and wood trim, resulting in a Disney princess–worthy vanity setup. Jassy’s dad built the chain-link chandeliers in the office-dining area and kitchen as a birthday present for his son (they’re inspired by a $40,000 handblown-glass version Jassy saw online), while his mom helped him scour Facebook Marketplace for hidden gems. Nicole got inspired to paint the abstract living room mural after she and Jassy saw the colorful sets and costumes featured in John Waters’s Female Trouble (1974).
The tiled bed was a personal undertaking: Jassy applied the 1-by-1-foot grid sheets to the custom-built frame (it’s screwed into the studs) after practicing on two small living room side tables. He wasn’t overly precious about superclean grout lines or precise spacing. “I’m more of a big-picture kind of girl; I don’t get hung up on tiny mistakes or imperfections,” he says. However, he was sure to carve out a spot for an integrated outlet for charging his phone. A full battery is crucial for controlling the Bluetooth-activated Govee bulbs in all of his light fixtures from an app, making his home house party–ready before he even steps out of bed. “I can dim them, change the colors, and set them to the beat of the music,” he notes.
A dance-pop playlist would be especially fitting. Not only did the idea for Choke Hole initially stem from the release of Glow, a Netflix series revolving around the 1980s women’s professional wrestling circuit, but Jassy’s principal stage persona is a latex-clad, high-powered real-estate agent–slash–landlord who loves to hand out eviction notices—and has the signature big hair of the era. “When I first moved in, I definitely fantasized about only interacting with my tenant in drag,” Jassy says with a laugh, pointing out the irony of being someone’s actual landlord (except he is nice to his renter). “It’s life imitating art.”
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Photography by Jacqueline Marque Words by Lydia Geisel Styling by Suzonne Stirling
DRAG WRESTLER JASSY
TACKLES CHAINS, COLORFUL
IKEA HACKS, and ’80s-era grids at his New Orleans home.
Bold Chair, Moustache ($695)
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Designer Christian Siriano’s Manhattan pied-à-terre is like a vintage-filled hotel where he can check in, then check out.
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Mural, Nicole Linder.
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Above: Mirror and Coffee Tables, Jassy; Lounge Chair, Industry West; Albany Sofa, Albany Park; Hearts Pillow, Brian Waitman; Curtain, Quiet Town; Sparkling Emerald Paint, Behr. Right: Sconce, Mimi Girouard; Besta Cabinet with Custom Acrylic Surface, IKEA.
Credits
Above: Svallerup Rug and Torsby Table, IKEA; Vintage Dining Chairs; Chandelier, Jassy; Noble Blush and Prairie Rose Paint, Behr. Left: David Art, Sam Springston; Vintage Bench and Lamp, @gezellig_home.
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Above: Cabinets, Urban Outfitters; Mirror, Jassy; Folk Tale Paint, Behr; Divot Paint, Valspar. Right: Floating Shelves, Jassy; Vintage Vases.
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Yomi Eko Sofa, Mojow; Vintage Panton Chairs; Vintage Coffee Table, @objectbiographies; Aqua Quartz, Rainforest Mist, Green Sea, Orange Slice, Orange Pecan, and Warm Cider Paint, Valspar.
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Bed Frame, Jassy; Rug (on wall), Cold Picnic; Checkered Rug, Etsy.
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Above: Desk and Cabinets, Jassy; Bold Chair, Moustache; Orange Mousse Paint, Valspar. Left: Mirror, Jassy; Divot Paint, Valspar; Emergency Zone Paint, Behr.
Albany Sofa, Albany Park ($1,399)
Noble Blush, Behr
Svallerup Rug, IKEA ($110)
people. That’s just a part of
my personality.”
I like to get a reaction out of people. That’s just a part of
my personality.”
I spent my life savings buying the house, so I didn’t have much left to start filling it.”
“
the house, so I didn’t have
much left to start filling it.”
much left to start filling it.”
drag wrestler Jassy delivers a fresh performance at his New Orleans home.
Read the Next Story:
His older brothers (he’s the youngest of four) came up with the term of endearment when he was a roly-poly toddler. For a while it stuck. “It gave me this sense of notoriety that, as a kid, you don’t normally experience,” Jassy recalls.
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