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One of the most popular performers on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is now facing multiple accusations of sexual assault.
Darius Jeremy “DJ” Pierce, who performs in drag under the name “Shangela,” has been accused by five different people of sexually assaulting them or attempting to have sex with them when they were too intoxicated to consent. according to the rolling stone.
Neither RuPaul nor the show is implicated in the Rolling Stone report.
One of the victims, a 27-year-old man named Helmer, said he met Pierce, 42, seven years ago when he worked at a bar in Los Angeles and then connected on social media.
But Helmer said things got worse during a “late dinner” in 2017, where Pierce asked him for a mojito. Helmer told Los Angeles police that he woke up “completely naked in a bed” and “did not remember the events that occurred after drinking” that cocktail.
According to the complaint Helmer filed with the Los Angeles police, Pierce told him that they had sexual relations together and added: “There was another guy involved that you brought in.”
When Helmer asked the other man’s identity, Pierce said he didn’t know. “But you really liked him,” Pierce told Helmer.
Pierce’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, told Rolling Stone that Helmer’s allegations were “absurd” and claimed that any sex between the three men was “consensual.”
Another victim, Edward Ramirez, said Pierce allegedly “pushed me to the floor of a closet and tried to penetrate me” in 2018. He was 21 years old.
“I’m very sure I was clear with my ‘no’s.’ “I was rejecting the advances,” Ramírez told Rolling Stone. “He kept trying anyway.”
Brettler also denied the allegation and said there were three people who could “attest that Mr. Pierce and Mr. Ramirez were never alone” on the night in question.
the five The people who spoke to Rolling Stone about Pierce’s alleged crimes identify as queer and have participated in or seen drag shows, according to the publication.
All of them also admitted that they were afraid to go public due to the current anti-drag climate plaguing parts of the nation.
“[Pierce is]a great spokesperson for a community where quite a few people have been hurt. I hope people take this kind of thing seriously,” said Zein Checri, who accused Pierce of trying to penetrate him without consent in 2017; He was also 18 years old. “It’s a huge relief that this conversation is finally starting to happen.”
The new exhibition comes about 10 months after a production assistant named Daniel McGarrigle accused Pierce of raping him. according to the Los Angeles Times.
Although Pierce said that He was “hurt and disgusted” by the “totally false allegations,” and he and McGarrigle reached a settlement in February.
You can read the very extensive report. here.