Sherry Pie (whose real name is Joey Gugliemelli) has been disqualified from competing in VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race after she has been accused of posing as a casting director and catfishing several men to send videos of themselves performing lewd acts with the promise of giving them acting opportunities.
The news comes hours before Sherry was set to make her debut in the second part of season 12’s two-part premiere that was filmed last year.
Aspiring actor Ben Shimkus was one of those who spoke about his alleged experience with Sherry in a lengthy Facebook post. He claimed that he had become friends with Sherry in musical theatre at State University of New York College at Cortland. Sherry eventually left college and it was around that time too that Ben received a tip about an available role at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. He was advised by a friend to contact a casting director named “Allison Mossey” who started requesting him to “film scenes that felt particularly sexual and awkward.”
Over time, he grew suspicious and contacted Playwrights Horizon who claimed they had never heard of an “Allison Mossey”. When he asked his friend where he had gotten the contact for Allison from, and his friend said it was from Sherry, who was “adamant” about her friendship with Allison.
Buzzfeed later published an interview with four other men who had a similar experience.
Sherry has since apologized.
“This is Joey, I want to start by saying how sorry I am that I caused such trauma and pain and how horribly embarrassed and disgusted I am with myself. I know that the pain and hurt that I have caused will never go away and I know that what I did was wrong and truly cruel. Until being on RuPaul’s Drag Race, I never really understood how much my mental health and taking care of things meant. I learned on that show how important “loving yourself” is and I don’t think I have ever loved myself. I have been seeking help and receiving treatment since coming back to NYC. I truly apologize to everyone I have hurt with my actions. I also want to say how sorry I am to my sisters of season 12 and honestly the whole network and production company. All I can do is change the behavior and that starts with me and doing that work.”
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RPDR then released the following statement on its official Twitter account:
“In light of recent developments and Sherry Pie’s statement, Sherry Pie has been disqualified from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Out of respect for the hard work of the other queens, VH1 will air the season as planned. Sherry will not appear in the grand finale scheduled to be filmed later this spring.”
…Out of respect for the hard work of the other queens, VH1 will air the season as planned.
Sherry will not appear in the grand finale scheduled to be filmed later this spring.” – spokesperson for VH1 and World of Wonder— RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) March 6, 2020
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