5 members of the LGBTQ neighborhood are leveling accusations of sexual assault or coercion in opposition to drag performer Shangela, who settled a earlier rape case that allegedly occurred on the set of an HBO collection by mediation in February.
In a Rolling Stone article printed on Monday, the 5 accusers recount incidents by which Darius Jeremy Pierce, the person behind the drag persona Shangela, who appeared in season two of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and HBO’s drag-centric present, We’re Right here, allegedly assaulted people or tried to get them inebriated past the power to provide consent. All 5 instructed the journal that they got here ahead after HBO manufacturing assistant Daniel McGarrigle filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court docket accusing Pierce of drugging and raping him after a 2020 wrap occasion; the case was settled in mediation after a choose tossed two of the costs. Pierce vehemently denied the allegation, saying it “has no foundation the truth is or in regulation.”
Most of the new accusations in opposition to Pierce in Rolling Stone‘s story have particulars much like McGarrigle’s and to at least one one other — practically all the accounts contain Pierce allegedly shopping for or offering alcohol to the younger males, who ranged in age from 18 to 23 on the time they are saying the assaults occurred; a number of recollections embody the lads waking up in Pierce’s mattress in a dazed and confused state and there are a number of accounts of a 3rd man being current within the room.
One in all Pierce’s accusers, a 27-year-old named Helmer, determined to file a police report in Los Angeles in 2023 concerning the alleged assault. Helmer says he was 20 when he met Pierce in Los Angeles in 2017 and recollects “waking up fully bare on a mattress and believed to be at Pierce’s residence” after the 2 met for dinner and the drag star purchased him a mojito.
“[Helmer] requested Pierce what occurred final evening and why he was bare,” the criticism learn, in line with the report. “Pierce responded with, ‘We had intercourse, and there was one other man concerned that you simply introduced in.’ [Helmer] requested who that different man was, and Pierce said he didn’t know, ‘however you have been actually into it.’”
Refuting these claims, an legal professional representing Pierce instructed the journal that the 2 had consensual intercourse with a 3rd man they’d met at a bar. He additionally denied claims from a second accuser, Edward Ramirez claimed the performer shoved him to the ground in a closet when he was 21 years previous in 2018 and tried to penetrate him. Brettler instructed Rolling Stone that three folks might “attest that Mr. Pierce and Mr. Ramirez have been by no means alone collectively”
Checri instructed the journal he was 18 in 2017 when he met Pierce in London. After having drinks Pierce supplied, he discovered himself in Pierce’s mattress, having vomited; he recalled that he was not “accountable for something that was occurring.” Pierce’s legal professional mentioned that he and Checri weren’t intimate however they did devour alcohol and he’d gone to his shopper’s residence.
An accuser named Zachary says he met Piece in New Orleans in 2015 then “blacked out” after an evening of consuming and woke as much as Pierce and a 3rd man. “I heard Shangela say, ‘Stick it in him,’ and I shortly mentioned ‘No,’’ Zachary recalled to Rolling Stone. He mentioned that he handed out once more after this transient glimpse of his alleged assault. Pirce’s legal professional instructed Rolling Stone Zachary “engaged in consensual sexual acts earlier than falling asleep” that evening.
Pierce is denying ever having met RoyLee Soliz in 2012, a fifth accuser who claims after being given drinks, he fell asleep however woke as much as the performer he had “appeared as much as” making an attempt to put his penis inside his mouth. In a denial by way of his lawyer, Pierce mentioned he has “no recollection of assembly RoyLee Soliz,” and has by no means had “nonconsensual intercourse of any form with them, or anybody else.”
Based on the report, a number of of the accusers who got here ahead with allegations in opposition to Pierce have been hesitant to take action, because it might create a blow to the drag neighborhood. Because the as soon as underground scene has moved into the mainstream, with exhibits like Drag Race and We’re Right here discovering a wider viewers, family-friendly occasions like drag brunches and story hours have been focused by right-wing motion teams. Talking with the journal, Checri mentioned that he feels that “it’s a huge aid that, lastly, this dialog is beginning to occur.”