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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 either sexually assaulting them or trying to have sex with them when they were too intoxicated to consent, according to Rolling Stone.
Neither RuPaul nor the show are implicated in Rolling Stone’s report.
One of the victims, a 27-year-old man named Helmer, said he met Pierce, 42, seven years ago when he was working at a Los Angeles bar and later hooked up on social media.
But Helmer said things took a turn for the worse during a “late dinner” in 2017 where Pierce ordered a mojito for him. Helmer told the Los Angeles Police that he woke up “completely naked on a bed” and had “no recollection of the events that occurred after he drank” that cocktail.
According to the complaint Helmer filed with the LAPD, Pierce told him that they had sex 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 were really into it,” Pierce told Helmer.
Pierce’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, told Rolling Stone that Helmer’s allegations were “absurd” and claimed any sex between all three men was “consensual.”
Another victim, Edward Ramirez said Pierce allegedly “shoved me on the floor in a closet and tried to penetrate me” in 2018. He was 21 years old.
“I’m very confident I was clear with my ‘no’s.’ I was declining advances,” Ramirez told Rolling Stone. “He still kept trying anyway.”
Brettler also denied the allegation, saying there were three people who could “attest that Mr. Pierce and Mr. Ramirez were never alone together” on the night in question.
All five people who spoke to Rolling Stone about Pierce’s alleged crimes identify as queer and have either participated in drag shows or watched, according to the publication.
All of them also admitted they feared going public because of the current anti-drag show climate sweeping parts of the nation.
“[Pierce is] a huge spokesperson for a community in which they have hurt quite a few people. I would hope that people take this kind of thing seriously,” said Zein Checri, who accused Pierce of attempting to penetrate him without consent in 2017 ― he was also 18. “It is a big relief that, finally, this conversation is starting to happen.”
The new expose 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 untrue allegations,” he and McGarrigle reached a settlement in February.
You can read the very extensive report here.