Shangela Has Been Accused Of Sexual Assault By A Crew Member From HBO’s “We’re Here”
HBO’s award-winning show We’re Here follows former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Eureka O’Hara, Bob the Drag Queen, and Shangela as they pack up suitcases of glitter, make-up, and love to spread around the nation. Their mission is to turn small towns into One Night Only drag shows before sashaying away to another location to repeat the process. What they’re NOT supposed to be doing, however, is becoming Harvey Weinsteins in wigs wreaking havoc on their co-workers. And unfortunately, this is what’s being alleged by a former crew member who claims he was sexually assaulted by Shangela. But Shangela is lip-syncing for his innocence by refuting these claims as utterly untrue.
Shangela (government name: Darius Jeremy Pierce) is pulling out his earrings and tossing his mile-high wig to the side to confront these terrible allegations. TVLine reports that a man by the name of Daniel McGarrigle has filed a lawsuit against Shangela for sexual assault after a crew party in 2020. And the laundry list of allegations, including sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender violence, will have Shangela looking towards the sky shouting, “HALLELOO!!” once his good name is cleared.
In a lawsuit McGarrigle filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the former production assistant claims that Pierce sexually assaulted him after a crew party in February 2020. Per McGarrigle, he and Pierce were in a Louisiana hotel room when Pierce allegedly overpowered him and had sex with him despite McGarrigle screaming “no” and trying to push him away.
Shangela released a statement to the L.A. Times promising to fight these allegations all the way to the bitter end.
I can’t begin to explain how hurt and disgusted I am by these totally untrue allegations. They are personally offensive and perpetuate damaging stereotypes that are harmful not only to me but also to my entire community… An external investigation into this embittered individual’s claims previously concluded that they were completely without merit. This newest filing is nothing but an attempt to shake down both me and a well-regarded television company. No one should be fooled: It has no basis in fact or in law, and it will not succeed. As a hardworking and outspoken drag entertainer for more than a decade, I know that I am far from alone in battling ignorance, bigotry and prejudice, all of which played a role in the filing of this complaint. That is why I will fight this entirely meritless lawsuit and not allow it to destroy me and those I love, or harm the causes we all stand for.
We’re Here‘s production company Buckingham Television also released a statement where they say in part, “Buckingham and HBO take the safety and well-being of personnel on our shows very seriously, and Buckingham immediately launched an investigation. The investigation concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support these allegations.” This truly is awful news because I’ve always seen drag queens as the life of the party, not the reason the party gets shut down. Hopefully, RuPaul is on her way to investigate this madness as well to exact justice on whoever is in the wrong with a nine-inch stiletto aimed straight towards the middle of their ass.
Pic: INSTARImages