A drag queen recently embraced by Vice President Kamala Harris has been accused of sexual assault and rape by five different people, according to a new report.
In June 2022, Harris hosted a Pride Month event at the vice presidential residence, where former RuPauls Drag Race participant Darius Pierce (stage name Shangela) was invited to speak. At the time, the media hailed the event as historic, with the two posing for selfies and Pierce later thanking Harris for being an authentic ally of the LGBT movement.
Now, however, the association has taken on a decidedly more problematic connotation for the Biden administration thanks to a Rolling Stone report published on Monday, which reveals that four people allege that Pierce either sexually assaulted them or attempted to have sex with them when they were too inebriated to consent, and a fifth person claims Pierce attempted anal penetration in a bathroom closet despite rejecting his advances.
The accusers, all between the ages of 18 and 32, say the incidents were prefaced by Pierce drinking alcohol with them for hours on end, from 2012 to 2018 in both the United States and United Kingdom.