Tag: cat fishing

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Sherry Pie Disqualified Just Hours Before RuPaul’s Drag Race Debut

Sherry Pie (image via World of Wonder)
RuPaul’s Drag Race has canceled Season 12 contestant Sherry Pie after numerous allegations of catfishing young men for nude photos went viral. Aspiring actor Ben Shimkus posted on his Facebook account an emotionally jarring story regarding Joey Gugliemelli aka Sherry Pie, who makes her Drag Race debut tonight. My Instinct Magazine colleague Mickey Keating first broke the news of Shimkus’ story with an exclusive interview with him regarding his experience with Gugliemelli. Posing as a casting director for a prestigious theater company in New York City, Gugliemelli would entice young male actors to send explicit photos and video clips as ‘audition’ materials for a new play to be presented. After Shimkus’s post went viral, several others came forward with similar stories. Eventually, Gugliemelli took to Facebook himself and copped to the accusations.

“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.”

In the wake of Gugliemelli’s admission, RuPaul’s Drag Race announced that, while the bulk of Season 12 has already been filmed, Sherry Pie “will not appear in the grand finale scheduled to be filmed later this spring.” Sherry’s entre to RPDR and ‘cancel culture’ begins tonight on VH1.

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News Round-Up: May 4, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• If I can’t start my day looking LIKE Alex Abramov, at least I can start my day looking AT Alex Abramov.

• Pulse Nightclub, the site of the largest mass murder of LGBTQ people in the history of the United States, will become a permanent national memorial.

• Two 16 year old high school students pretended to be a 35 year old man on a dating app to get a North Carolina teacher to send a naked pic to them, and then they sent the pic to classmates.

• After Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi said that those who dress outside of traditional gender norms are asking for violence, citizens of the Equality State began protesting his comments by wearing tutus and tweeting the hashtag #LiveandLetTutu.

• The Tony Award nominations are out, and lots of folks are thrilled to be on the list. There were, however, some rather egregious oversights. Check out who got overlooked here.

• Team Trump is furious that CNN refused to air his new campaign ad, which included a graphic calling CNN “fake news.” Check out CNN’s response below: