RuPaul’s Drag Race Seasons 2 and 3 star Darius Jeremy Pierce, also known as Shangela, is under fire for allegations of sexual assault. The news comes nearly one year after a previous lawsuit against Shangela, which involved similar accusations, was dismissed in court. The latest complaint was filed on February 24, 2025, by Eric Poff, an adult film star known by the stage name, Dakota Payne. In the lawsuit, Poff accused Pierce of pressuring him to drink excessively before allegedly assaulting him while he was incapacitated.
According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the incident took place in October 2017 while Poff and Pierce were filming Hurricane Bianca in Manhattan. Poff has claimed that the Drag Race star “spiked” his drink with a drug. The next thing Poff knew, he woke up in a hotel room with Pierce assaulting him while an unknown man watched from the corner. His lawyers wrote that because of Poff’s “Semi-conscious” state at the time, he was unable to consent to any sexual activity that took place.
The documents also state that Poff “gained the courage to come forward” with his story after the previous allegations against the drag queen made headlines in 2024. Poff also alleged that Pierce continued to send him money to buy his silence. In his lawsuit, Poff is requesting a jury trial and asking Pierce to pay his attorney’s fees along with “all other amounts owed to him.”
Five People Have Accused Shangela of Sexual Assault
In March 2024, Rolling Stone broke the news about five people accusing the famous drag queen of sexual assault. According to the report, all these incidents took place between 2012 and 2018. All five alleged victims claimed that Pierce, AKA Shangela, had been nearly double their age during the time of the assaults. Three of the victims revealed that they were aspiring drag queens themselves and were “aware of Pierce’s celebrity status.” One of the sources also shared that they were so drunk that they threw up in a hotel bed just moments before the alleged assault took place.
In a letter sent to the magazine, Pierce’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, maintained that the allegations were false and “unsupported by any evidence or reliable witness testimony.” According to Andrew, Pierce never engaged in non-consexual sex and claimed that there were significant inconsistencies in the accusers’ stories. However, the drag queen has admitted to meeting with four of the sources on the dates of the alleged assaults. According to Pierce, they don’t remember the fifth accuser.
One of the accusers included former RuPaul’s Drag Race production assistant, Daniel McGarrigle. Daniel alleged that Pierce assaulted him while they both appeared on HBO’s We’re Here in 2020. However, Daniel dropped his lawsuit, which was initially seeking damages for alleged sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender violence. As reported by PEOPLE, the suit was dismissed “with prejudice,” which meant that it could not be refiled. RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 17 airs on MTV on Fridays at 8 PM. You can also stream it on Paramount+ in the U.S.