A drag queen celebrated by the establishment media and the Biden administration has been accused of a string of sexual assaults.
According to Rolling Stone, the drag performer who goes by the stage name “Shangela,” but whose real name is Darius Pierce, was hailed as a “breakthrough star.”
Pierce, 42, appeared in several seasons of drag queen RuPaul’s TV show and was a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2022, coming in fourth place.
He also had a part in the 2018 film “A Star Is Born” and recently attended the red carpet premiere of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” movie.
Pierce has been celebrated as a leading LGBT advocate. He was even invited to a Biden administration event for the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act in Washington, D.C.
Drag Queen “Shangela,” who has now been accused of multiple sexual assaults, gave the welcome speech to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Pride event hosted at the VPs home in 2022. pic.twitter.com/hVW3IUYoDQ
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 18, 2024
The drag queen has now been accused by five people of either outright sexually assaulting them or attempting to assault them.
Rolling Stone reported that Pierce’s lawyer blasted the claims as “false and unsupported by any evidence or reliable witness testimony” and said there were “significant problems with [the] purported accusers’ accounts.”
Will the establishment media bury this story?
But the allegations are stark.
One accuser, a 27-year-old man identified as Helmer, said Pierce assaulted him in 2017 after a night of partying in Los Angeles.
Helmer told police that Pierce bought him a drink and that he “does not have any recollection of the events that occurred” after he drank it. He said he woke up naked in what he believed was Pierce’s residence and was told by Pierce that they had had sex.
Another accuser, 27-year-old Edward Ramirez, said he was attacked by the drag queen in 2018 in Texas. He said that Pierce shoved him to the floor in a closet and tried to have sex with him during a party.
A third accuser, identified as Checri, accused Pierce of trying to have sex with him in a London hotel room in 2017 while Checri was inebriated. Pierce was 37 and Checri was 18 at the time of the alleged incident.
A man identified as Zachary, 32, said Pierce supplied him with drinks at a New Orleans club until he blacked out. He said he woke up to Pierce and another man attempting to rape him. The alleged incident happened in 2015.
A fifth man, 32-year-old RoyLee Soliz, said Pierce provided him with drinks and sexually assaulted him in a Texas hotel room in 2012.
Daniel McGarrigle, a production assistant who worked with Pierce on the HBO show “We’re Here,” has made similar accusations.
McGarrigle said he passed out after Pierce bought him several drinks and woke up to Pierce trying to rape him. McGarrigle filed a civil lawsuit against Pierce that was settled in February.
One would think that in this #MeToo era, this news would be everywhere.
If Pierce were, say, an outspoken advocate of traditional marriage lionized by conservatives rather than a high-profile LGBT activist feted by the Biden administration, his alleged assaults would almost assuredly be receiving wall-to-wall coverage.
Why is that?
Certainly, Pierce is innocent until proven guilty. But others have been destroyed and canceled for far less.